The Summer List
by SoNoAnOu
Summary: Xion had her own circle of childhood friends - a circle that Riku only seemed to be halfway into. After years of often forgetting he exists... can events actually turn the two of them into friends? How far will the friendship go? SoKai RikuXion RokuNami
1. Chapter 1

All right ^-^;

Sono here... writing even though my Microsoft Word trial is up. I don't know what it is about word but I just love it so much TT_TT

Aaaanyway, there aren't enough good RikuXion fanfics out there! *stomps* So here I am, writing one. It's very AU, and even though I originally hated AU, I'm writing one anyway because there's something cool about them to me now.

I had trouble deciding if this would be in first or third person... but I have decided first for now and will change it to third if it bothers me. :D Aiight, here we go!

**DISCLAIMER!** I do not **claim** to own any of **dis** stuff. Not creative enough, you see. Square Enix is the BOMB.

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.:Xion's POV:.

.

"AAUUGHH!" I groaned, scribbling down the same number combination for the millionth time.

"Augh?" Namine, one of my closest friends, echoed with a grin. "What's up now?" She folded up her notebook, probably meaning she had recently finished her problems.

Lucky.

We were in Math class, near the tail end of the period working on our homework for that day - and I was nowhere NEAR being finished. "It's this dumb formula!" I muttered, leaning down near the paper and crossing out a few answers that didn't work out. "Each problem takes like ten minutes to do! And then I only get half of them right!"

Namine chuckled and moved her seat closer to mine. "Well you _are_ saying that five plus seven is thirteen riiiight... here," She pointed at my ugly boyish scrawl-of-a-handwriting, making me frown and scribble the answer out in pen.

"How'd I make it into this class anyway?" Honestly, algebra 1A was over my head. Not to mention that I couldn't stand math either. I had taken algebra in 8th grade along with Namine and a few of my other friends... but didn't do well enough in the class OR pass the test to go to the next level.

So here I was, re-doing the same course in my freshmen year of high school, and still sucking at it.

Namine could have moved up, but she didn't. Probably just wanted to keep me company.

"HEY FOLKS!" Mr. McGregor called to the class of 25-or-so bored-to-death students. He was a retired marine who had enough "tall and scary" in him to share with everyone present. "Head to your homerooms!"

I gathered up my books with another angry mumble. Looks like I'd have to be working on that at home.

"Freedom!" I gasped as I left the class, Namine laughing. Thank GOD math was the last class of the day.

"Hey, are you gonna to come with us to the beach today? Awesome forecast! For like the first time in a week!" She seemed really excited and certain I would go - so I sighed and nodded. Couldn't disappoint her by blowing her off like a jerk.

"Sure, I'll be there," I cracked a smile... trying NOT to think about the math homework I'd apparently have to forget about. Or just not do at all...

That's a lie. I always have to do all of the work handed to me... or I feel like total crap. It's just the way I was raised.

It was finally good to see a nice day, too. Twilight Town had been complete mud thanks to all the rain we'd gotten for the past few days - locking us off from the beach.

"Hey, Xion!" Sora, my crazy - yet somehow charismatic - brother ran up to me the second Nam and I stepped foot outside the Math building and onto the High School campus. Kairi was under his arm, as usual... the two had been a pair since the end of their own eighth grade year, and now they were sophomores. There was no end in sight. "You coming to the beach, right?"

"Just got through telling Nam I-"

"Awesome!" Sora's face broke out into a grin. "This is gonna be sweet. And Riku's gonna be there, right?" He turned to Namine, then, as he questioned about her stepbrother. Of course he'd ask that. He and Riku had been the best two friends in the entire world ever since we moved from Radiant Garden to Twilight town when I was 6... Nine years ago.

Everyone knew about their friendship. And, better yet, it seemed as if both of our _families _were just as friendly with each other. I mean, Namine is Riku's sister and she's my best friend... Riku is Sora's best friend. And even my Mom was still keeping in touch with their Mom - although she remained in our old town.

It was like the friendships between our families made an impossible-to-untie knot.

Namine smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, he will be." She whipped out her phone and sent a text before continuing. "Right. I've verified everything - and everyone can go. Even Axel can get out of work!"

Kairi squealed. "It can be our first summer activity together!" She gasped, ducking out from under Sora's arm and standing next to Nam. "C'mon, I need to buy a new swimsuit."

Sora opened his mouth to speak.

"NO, Sora," Kairi cut him off before he even got a word out. "It can't be a bikini because those are for sluts and I don't like them. I _might_ get a tankini." Wow. That's Kairi for you. The only well built female sophomore to shun the bikini.

"But they AREN'T for sluts!" My brother complained like a little five-year-old boy being denied of his candy. "PLEASE just try one? A red one with a low cut...?"

I glared at Sora angrily with the special 'hairy eyeball' stare. "Really, Sora? Maybe you should try swimming without your shirt on before complaining to Kairi."

Kairi tried to hide her laughter with her fist - while Namine outrightly giggled and Sora blushed a bright cherry-colored red. "Shut up. The water's always cold..." He mumbled.

My watch alarm suddenly went off, making me jump. "Jeez! Oh, Namine, we've gotta pack up and go!" I shut it off and shifted my books to one side.

"Bye, Sora! Bye Kairi! See you in..." Namine paused to do a math geek calculation in her head. "Ahh, an hour and fifteen minutes!"

We made our way through the campus... the campus that I seemed to be JUST getting used to... weaving around people and heading for our homeroom in the main freshmen building. It felt great to know the sun was out - even though it burnt my skin HORRIBLY if I didn't slather sunscreen SPF 100 on me. Some people burn and then tan... but I burn and then burn some more. I had bad skin, I'll admit, not that I thought about it that much.

Nam and I slipped into our homeroom to grab our backpacks - I really liked mine, a green, black, and purple plaid color - and sat down in the chairs to catch our breath. Seriously, an entire year of walking the same mile to get from your last class to homeroom can be tiring. I looked around the plain-looking classroom, which was mostly empty, my eyes wandering through the desks and up the the ceiling. Everyone usually just waited outside when it was sunny, even though they were supposed to report to homeroom before leaving.

It's not like the teacher was there to take afternoon attendance any more, anyway, though. Nam and I just hung out there due to force of habit.

Namine took out her sketchbook and started to quickly touch up a colorful picture she had in it - one I couldn't completely see from the angle I was at.

"Whatcha working on?" I questioned, trying to lean over and see.

"Nothing," Nam replied self-consciously. I raised an eyebrow. That was the thing about Namine... she was so confident in her drawing skills that she outrightly displayed her pictures to everyone, all of her friends, happily. Whenever she said "nothing" it meant something was definitely up.

"You don't say..." I replied casually, then suddenly jerked forward to try and snatch the white spiral-bound book from her hand. She raised it high above her head.

"NO! You can't see it! It's-" And then the sketchbook was removed from Namine's own grasp by someone standing above her. I looked up.

"Oh? What's this latest masterpiece?" Roxas, my cousin - and another one of my best friends - examined the drawing with a goofy grin printed on his face. Namine tried to grab it twice, but he held it out of her reach every time. Dang, he was getting tall.

He held it out for me to see, revealing an awesomely realistic picture of him, probably only half-finished. "Look! It's me!"

Namine slumped in her chair. "Now you've all seen it. So can I have the book back now?" She was obviously pissed off at us... time to say something to make her feel better.

"Jeez, Nam!" I gasped, actually very impressed. I was always so jealous of her drawing skills. "It looks exactly like him! What are you so worried about?"

I mean... _other_ than the fact that she was obviously madly in love with my cousin. And he didn't know it. She was just too chicken to make a move... worried she'll be turned down. And of course Roxas was either ignoring the hints... or he was just ignorant.

I'm going for number two there.

"Yeah! This is really cool, Namine, seriously!" Roxas flashed her another smile, making Namine grin back.

"Thanks, you jerks."

We heard the unmistakable sound of a bus pulling up - ah, not just _A_ bus, the first bus of the afternoon - and automatically we stood up and started walking outside.

"You seen Axel?" I asked as we dropped our backpacks under a tree to wait for our bus. Yeah, we all took the same one, living in the same small neighborhood as each other. Kairi lived in a bigger, busier part of town though... and I could see her and Sora sucking face goodbye before she boarded her bus to leave.

Roxas and I playfully gagged while Namine politely looked at her sketchpad to pretend to draw. That's right, Namine. Make it like you didn't see.

"Nah," Rox said after we'd finished making fun of my brother. "He's been busy at his job lately... but he's coming to the beach. Or so I hear."

"Nice job keeping tabs on your boyfriend," I teased - a joke my group of friends tended to overuse. Axel and Roxas as a pair. Well, they were close friends as it was.

"You gotta do what you gotta do," He shrugged, making Nam and me laugh.

Our own gross-looking bus pulled up right then, and we got up to leave as the sun continued to beat down on the blacktop. Dang, it was hot. An awesome day for the beach for sure.

I'd have to get ready when i got home.

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All right, one chapter down. :D

Short chappy is short -.-; Sorry.. still trying to get the hang of how long each one oughta be. Tell me if this is all right or if you thirst for more words. I know I should have waited for more reviews on my first short before diving right into another story no one will probably like.. but... I couldn't help myself. I got the idea the other day thinking about things and then I mapped the whole thing out and... it... it was like a train falling off a waterfall. No way to stop it. ((Where'd I get that simile? owo))

Anyway, review, you guys! Tell me how you like the setup... the characters... I know a lot of them aren't revealed yet but... *shrug* This is all I got right now.

Oh, yes, time for a stereotypical Narrative on what will happen in the future chapters.

_Xion has known Riku since she was a little girl... she doesn't love him...or DOES she? _

_WILL Namine sort out her feelings for Roxas?_

_WILL Kairi crack under pressure and buy herself a bikini?_

_WILL Xion figure out that formula?_

_WILL Axel even be a main character in this story?_

_And WHEN is Riku going to show up?_

Thanks for reading! Maybe I can hold out for a while and see if I get any reviews before doing chapter two. But... ohhhh I wanna do it right now... will I?

-Sono ^-^;


	2. Chapter 2

Hola peeps! Guess how many reviews I have on part one right now!

Uhm... zero. BUT! Reviews mean everything to me right now you guys! I've seen stories with hundreds of reviews... D: C'mon, if you're reading these words, review. Is it something I said? Something I did? Am I just completely lazy and impatient thinking that I can get a million reviews in simply a few hours?

...

Review.

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.:Xion's POV:.

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I grabbed my house key from the special compartment in my totally awesome backpack and opened the door. "I'm home!" I called to - probably - my Dad. He went away on his job a lot... so I never knew when he was going to be home or not.

He usually left a note, however, in the least.

I heard Sora stepping off of the bus at the end of the driveway, he and Roxas getting into a playful pushing battle. Ugh. Guys are so dumb sometimes.

Plus, it looked like Rox would be getting ready for the beach at our house today, too. Random visits from our cousin were not anything special... he practically lived with us, because his parents could be really stuck up jerks sometimes. We _never_ went over his house thanks to that.

I walked into the house to find it - ohhh, shocking! - empty, with a note explaining Dad would be away for the night and back in the morning. He goes to factories to fix machinery for a living... and apparently my Mom couldn't stand being with a guy that just left without warning all the time. So she left him. And we moved.

It didn't mother me so much any more... but sometimes I wished we could all be together.

I dumped my backpack on the table just as my brother and Roxas came in, arguing about who's biceps were bigger.

"Look who doesn't have a girlfriend!" Sora was scoffing. "You know what girls like? These, right here." He made a muscle and obnoxiously showed it off in our cousin's face, grinning.

Roxas pushed him into the coathanger. "Oh, wow, Sora! Guess that means I _haven't _beaten you in arm wrestling every day this week."

"You wanna go? Right now?"

"You're on, princess!"

The duo, now in the kitchen doorway, dropped into some chairs and started to arm wrestle right there... me watching all the while in total disbelief. Sora pushed my backpack onto the ground to make room.

"Hey!" I snapped, hitting them each in the back of the head, one at a time. "We've gotta be at the beach in..." I checked my watch. "Fifty-five minutes."

"Just enough time for us to do our thing!" Roxas insisted, pouting.

"No, it's not. Stop being lazy," I teased. "You two have to look nice for your lovers, don't you?"

Roxas looked a little pale at that comment. "My... wha?"

"Axel's gonna be there. And Kairi," I turned to Sora, ignoring Roxas's totally relieved look. "I should see if she needs help getting a bathing suit or something, too."

As I turned away, I heard Rox and Sora put their elbows on the table again. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be late, guys." I stressed, then running upstairs and switching out of "acting-like-a-bitchy-mother" mode.

My room was pretty much all white. White carpet, white walls, white bed and furniture...

I usually thought about what colors I'd like to paint it, but could never decide and I knew we'd never get around to doing it anyway. So, there was maybe one poster on the wall and two tissue paper flowers hanging from the ceiling as decoration. And a pink swirly thing that fell down a lot.

I took a deep breath and opened my closet to dig around for my one and only bathing suit. It was a one-piece, because - I know it sounds stereotypical and unconfident teenage girl-like - bikinis and two-pieces were for girls with an impressive... figure. Which I didn't posses. Yup, that's me. A loli and proud of it.

Even though only half of that last sentence is true. (The part about being proud of it.)

I slipped on the bathing suit, a green, white, and black thing thats actually pretty good-looking, and looked in the mirror with a sigh. Wasn't it normal for girls to worry and be jealous about their figures? If you talked to anyone else I knew they'd all agree that I didn't seem to be that girl, the one who always worried about how she looked.

But maybe I did.

A little.

I grabbed a pair of orange short-shorts from the floor and another baggy black dude shirt to wear over the one-piece.

Girl shirts and guy shirts are built differently, you know. I'm sure you've noticed that shirts designed to be worn by females are a lot curvier than their counterparts. And that guys generally aren't seen wearing them.

I don't know why, but I always wore 'dude shirts', as I called them. Shirts that were meant to be for guys. They were always too big on me, but I loved them.

I digress. Running downstairs once more, I saw Sora and Roxas still going at it on the table. "Guys!" I barked, once again switching to Mother-Mode. "Fourty-Five minutes!"

They didn't stop. Of course not.

Time to go help out Kairi. I ran out the door, paused, then ran back in to grab my awesome sunglasses, sunscreen, and my flip flops. Yeah, I'm forgetful.

x

( ò д ó)

x

"Hmm..." Kairi tapped her chin. Namine and I had been helping her choose a bathing suit for at least fifteen minutes. Well... at least the beach was nearby if we figured out we'd have to leave to meet up with the others on time.

Not that I thought the others would be there punctually.

"How's this? Will Sora like this?" Kairi held a gray one-piece up to Nam and me, removing it from the clearance rack.

"It's kind of drab," Namine said, looking at it. "You'd look like a storm cloud."

Ugh. Girly talk. Namine wasn't a fan of it either, but with Kairi it's like... when in Rome, you know? "Yeah, Nam's right," I agreed, chewing on the inside of my cheek. "Kinda gross looking."

Kai put it back with a sigh. ((A/N RHYME'D)) "Thanks guys. OH! Hey! Here's a red one! He said he liked red. And it's a tankini..."

"Gawd, Kairi," I grinned broadly. "Are we swimsuit shopping for _Sora_? Cuz that's what it sounds like."

The sophomore blushed. "I just want to make sure he'll like it."

"I bet he's gonna LOVE this one," Namine cooed, taking the swimsuit from Kairi's hand. "And it's as close to a bikini as you'll get, too."

"Then the red tankini it is!" Kairi stated, bringing it to the register, weaving through the densely packed racks of bathing suits. "This one pl-" She broke off, gasping. "AXEL? What are you doing here?"

Namine and I caught up to her to see our red-haired friend behind the register.

"Working, what's it look like?" He muttered, grabbing the tankini and ringing it up.

"But I thought you worked at the ice cream store," Namine said, blinking. He'd given us all free ice cream more than once.

"Got fired yesterday," Axel replied in a monotone voice. He sounded kind of upset. Well... I would be too. The ice cream shop was an awesome gig.

"Well... at least this place is near the water," I offered, smiling. "C'mon, it's not so bad."

"The pay is worse and it smells like clams," the high school senior growled, taking Kairi's money and handing her the swimsuit pointedly. "But at least I get out early today to go to the beach with you dumbasses."

Namine took a nonchalant sniff of the air - probably to test out Axel's clam statement - which sent her into a short fit of coughing. I snickered, then quickly swallowed my laughter.

"Well, we'll catch you later I guess," Kairi said, following me and Nam out the door into the sunshine.

"That sucks," I sighed as we headed on the path to the beach, staying on the sidewalk. You could see the sand in the distance down the street. "He probably misses that job."

"Maybe we can get free swimsuits!" Kairi suggested, ecstatic that she just discovered this probable fact. Namine snorted.

"I doubt it. You'd better change in the bathroom so Sora can see the suit the second he sees you," She said.

Kairi gasped loudly. "Omigosh! Awesome idea, Nami!" And with that she ran ahead of us.

Nam and I walked in silence for a few seconds.

"So," I said casually after a bit. "Roxas is coming."

"I know," Namine was never really the type of girl to blush at every little thing. Not like me, of course. Either way, Namine didn't blush. "I verified his invitation myself."

"You excited?"

"I guess."

I nudged my friend in the shoulder, smiling. "Sound more enthusiastic than that! How about... OHBOYTHLOVEOFMYLIFEISCOMING!"

Nam pushed me practically into a bush on the side of the road. "Shut up!" She moaned, frowning. "You're such a-"

_BEEP BEEP_. Someone honked their car horn behind us, making me whip around and Namine break off her sentence. Did we stay into the middle of the road!

But we didn't, apparently. It was Riku, teasing us in a... blue jeep? That he was driving? Is that legal?

"Nam!" I gasped, grabbing her sleeve. "Riku stole a car!"

She laughed. "No," Riku grinned at us from the window of the jeep, sporting a pair of sweet looking shades as Namine continued. "He got his learner's permit a little while ago. That's Mom's car."

NO WAYYY! Sora wasn't even driving yet! What the heck!

"That's wicked cool," I grinned, waving back to the boy. "He driven you anywhere?"

"A few times," Namine chuckled. "He goes fast."

Yikes... scary. I wouldn't trust _Sora_ to drive me. It seemed weird, though, to see Riku take a step ahead of my brother. They always seemed to be on the same level until recently... when Riku started getting a lot taller... and then it just got more different from there.

Although I never really paid any attention to Riku. He was SORA's friend, definitely not mine. I didn't know anything about him except that maybe he had a sense of humor. Basically, wherever Sora was at - like at a party, for example - he was at too. And for beach gatherings like this, that meant we indirectly hung out together. It's not like we were anything more than acquaintances. At most.

Riku stopped next to us and rolled down the window. "Hello there, little girls," He said in a very convincing rapist-voice. "Want some candy?"

"Very funny," Namine teased. "You should go park the car, we'll be on the sand."

And her stepbrother drove on ahead of us, turning left into the parking lot, while we shuffled onto the beach. I loved how the sand always kicked up at my heels when I was wearing flip flops.

We hunted out a good-looking spot on the crowded beach that could fit all of our friends, and sat down to wait for them to arrive. I sat on a rock - while Nam removed her clothes, revealing her bathing suit, so she could sit on the sand. She, too, had a pretty-looking light blue one-piece.

Knowing that Riku was about to arrive, I had a sudden urge to look in a mirror to make sure I was okay. But why? Probably because I didn't see him that often and I wanted to look good? Wouldn't I do that for anyone?

I mentally pictured myself dressing like a total slob in front of family guests that only visited once a year for Christmas, and changing my clothing only because Dad said I had to dress nicely. Well, maybe I _wouldn't_ want to look nice for everyone. But it didn't matter. Maybe this was different. For some reason, it was always like that with Riku.

If he's coming over and I'm wearing a crummy shirt, I always just change it without much thought. How it always went.

Namine turned to me. "Hey, what's the time?"

I checked my watch that I never parted with. "Four O'clock, on the dot. They should be here soon."

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There's your chapter two! Yeah, I really shouldn't have written it so soon after chapter one, with the zero reviews that I have managed to gather for this story.

But I was getting really impatient .-.

I _was_! I couldn't stand not writing! So I made this chapter roughly the same size as the last one.. because I don't know if 2000 words is a decent size or what. I'm gonna give it a rest for now - maybe. MAYBE. - and write when I get at least.. 1 review...

Augh, sorry, too. Phail chapter is phail, but I needed a filler for this... needed you to get this info. :|

So, even though nothing SUSPENSEFUL happened, I'm adding my cheesy Narrative anyway.

_._

_WILL Sora like Kairi's new bathing suit?_

_WILL Xion discover the mystery of her feeling(s) toward Riku?_

_WILL Axel end up liking his new clammy job?_

_WILL Namine ever blush?_

_And most of all, WILL Sora and Roxas EVER sort out who's biceps are bigger than who's!_

-Sono ^-^;


	3. Chapter 3

SUPPP you guys! Okay, I waited one day and have several happy things like... 2 reviews, and 1 favorite-ing of this story. So I think it'll be pretty okay if I just... writechapterthreenow!

I'm just really impatient! *rolls around* Plus this chapter is gonna be really awesome and... and... I'll get readers overtime, and...

REVIEW! Yeah, I see you guys that just look at the story without reviewing. I've got my eye on you, so don't think you can get away with it!

This story shall get very intense, so don't give up on my boring-ness at only chapter three!

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.:Xion's POV:.

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"Hey, Xion! Check this out!"

Everyone had arrived at the beach, and we were totally being that obnoxious group of teens that everyone wanted to move away from. Yay, us!

We'd been hanging out, playing Frisbee and tossing the beachball and having loads of beachy fun - and I completely owned Olette in boccie ball - when the beach started emptying out just slightly. We'd specifically planned this trip so that by the end, we'd have it to ourselves, (practically), at night. Axel hadn't arrived yet, however, but we'd only been there for about ten minutes tops.

Sora was currently attempting at a handstand, his face twisted into a goofy-looking semblance of concentration, when Riku snuck up from behind and pushed him face-first into the sand. Everyone laughed like the lovely and kind people we were.

Sora, just getting up, moaned pitifully. "I thought you were supposed to be my friends or something!"

Sora's so called 'best friend' nudged him with a grin. "What else are friends for?"

Namine sat next to me as Sora and Riku suddenly broke out into a fight - like they often did at the most random times. Ugh, have I mentioned boys are dumb? "Hey," She said, holding up a red disk. "Wanna play some more Frisbee?"

I stood up, wiping the sand off my butt. There's one thing I didn't like about the beach. "Mmkay, but I suck at it, so go easy on me." And we'd probably have to avoid our wrestling brothers also, adding to the challenge of the game.

"Count me in!" Hayner called, looking up from the pile-of-mud sandcastle he and Pence had been making. Pence stood up after him, seeming kind of annoyed.

"I guess that means I'm in, too." Pence wasn't the sporty kind of guy.

Nam picked up the Frisbee, tossing it to Hayner - she had some serious skill with the thing - and_ he_ tossed it to Pence... who had to go ahead and toss it to me. And I wasn't lying when I said I sucked. I had to catch it two handed, for one thing, and when I threw it, it somehow went behind me and hit something.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!"

"Axel!" Roxas exclaimed, turning from his conversation with Kairi to face his friend. "You're here!"

"Um, yeah, and it looks like you started without me." The red-haired senior pouted mockingly, holding the Frisbee that almost gave him a black eye. "How could you?"

"Don't worry," Sora grinned. He only paused with his battle with Riku for a moment. "Roxas waited anxiously for you to come."

I snorted. "Way to make a gay joke while twisted up with another guy."

"HEY!" My brother snapped, straining to get out of Riku's headlock. "_We_ are sorting out our manly dominance."

"Oh? We are?" Riku gasped, looking shocked. He leaned closer to Sora's face. "We can take this to the bedroom later."

"Way to have my back, asshole!"

And the two continued to wrestle, making everyone else laugh. Leave it to Sora to be the comic relief of the party.

Roxas sat down in the sand and stretched. "Auugh," He moaned, yawning. Everyone looked at him with a 'how-could-you-possibly-be-bored?' expression.

Axel tapped Rox's head, raising one eyebrow suspiciously. "You tired already? It's only like, what, four thirty?"

"I knowww," My cousin continued, laying back despite the sand that probably got in his hair. "We should invite Demyx next time for some music though."

Hayer, who was in the middle of throwing a ball at Pence, outrightly scoffed at this idea. "But he's dumb."

"We'll _you're_ dumb," Roxas muttered, closing his eyes. "Need something to keep me awake."

"I think it's a good idea," Namine offered, taking out her cell. Kiss ass. Maybe she was going to send a text to Demyx right then... or did he even have a phone? "I bet he's not so bad."

"If Roxie needs to stay awake," Axel chuckled, using the nickname that didn't seem to disprove our theory of them being gay, "We should make a fire or something."

"I don't know, I thought Axel's psychiatrist said he had to stay away from fire," Kairi teased, bringing out a few chuckles from the group. She was standing by the water, and when it lapped at her feet she squeaked in surprise and jumped away. "The tide's coming in!"

...And the sun was setting, too. That meant Axel was probably right - it was almost fire time. That was part two of our plan, in fact. When it gets dark make a fire and have s'mores - which I LOVEEE, by the way, - while talking. Too bad none of us could play the guitar. It would be a music-less fire.

Maybe that was why Roxas thought Demyx would be fun to bring along... not to mention how I thought he could be pretty funny sometimes. Why wasn't he even invited in the first place?

Axel cracked his neck. "I'm going in the water. Don't wanna miss it before it get's too dark." He slipped his shirt off as Pence looked over at him, the beach ball that Hayner apparently tossed hitting him in the cheek. ((A/N Lol, oh, Pence.))

"I should, too. Haven't even been in the water yet either,"

"Yeah, me too," Olette nodded softly, standing up and brushing the sand off of herself. "But not if it's too cold."

Namine, once more, took out her phone to check the time. Miss schedule, that was Nam. "Okay, but be back in like fifteen minutes, because that's fire t-"

"UNCLE! UNCLLEEEEE!" Sora's scream suddenly rang out in the twilight, making everyone - even the few other people who still remained at the beach - to turn and stare. "LET... ME... GO!"

Riku had Sora in some sort of strange and complex wrestler's hold that he learned from who-knows where, grinning devilishly. I held back a laugh.

"Jeez, Riku. Can't you be a little more gentle? You know he can't take that rough romance."

"Say it!" He was chuckling. "C'mon, you can do it!"

"NEVER!" My brother cried, clawing at the sand pitifully. "I WILL NEVER SUCCUMB TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"

"Oh?"

Everyone was staring, unable to think of anything to say. Even Axel, Pence, and Olette, who were halfway down to the beach, were frozen.

Sora bit his lip, hard. "FINE!"

"Then say it."

"RIKU WINS! I LOSE, RIKU WINS!"

Riku let Sora go, smirking. "You got that right."

Namine, who was probably thinking about her beach schedule that whole time, continued on like nothing had happened. "O-kay then peeps!" She smirked, drawing everyone's attention from the wheezing Sora on the ground. "We need to get ready for the fire while they're in the water, I guess. We need a good spot to make it, now that the beach is almost empty."

Hayner groaned, sitting down heavily onto the ground. "Since when did this become a chore?"

"Since we all have to work together to make this. There's ten of us, so I guess we have to make sure there's enough room for everyone."

Olette came running back at that point. "It's FREEZING!" She breathed, snatching Hayner's towel and wrapping it around herself.

"Hey!" He snapped. "That's... oh whatever. Use it."

"We're just talking about gathering stuff for the fire. It's almost Five," Nam explained, glancing back at the water.

I looked, too, and saw Axel and Pence having some sort of splashing war. No wonder Olette left.

"Isn't making a fire here, like... illegal?" Olette brought up with a frown, Roxas opened his eyes.

"Yeah, but everyone does it anyway."

"I always wanted to make a fire here, too," Kairi added, smiling blissfully. "It'll be so pretty and- oh! Sora! Do you like my bathing suit today?" Whoa, talk about a subject change.

Sora, still laying on the ground with Riku sitting next to him, lifted his head to see. "I love it, baby," He commented, huffily standing up and moving next to her. "Very sexy. And red." He put his arms around her waist, making her giggle hysterically like a three-year-old.

"Get a room, guys," I gagged.

"Close your eyes if you don't like it," My bro barked. Wow, jerk.

Namine tapped her foot. "All right... soo... Sora and Hayner can go look for a spot to park. Riku and Xion can go look for driftwood," My heartbeat spiked. But I didn't even know him! Not fair, Namine! "...And Kairi, you and Olette can go get lawn chairs and matches from my Mom's car."

"Yes Ma'am!" Kairi saluted, prying Sora off of her. He was looking obviously upset that they'd have to be separated. Yet, that was a good move on Nam's part.

Riku stood up. "We should get going then, Xion. C'mon."

I practically jumped to my feet, eyes wide. "Right."

.

( ᴏ ᴥ ᴑ)

.

Talk about awkward. We'd gathered two armloads of driftwood, (well, almost. Pretty much.) but didn't say a single WORD to each other the whole time. It was almost painful to be there.

I didn't do well in silent situations, you see. Why I wasn't a fan of talking on the phone, which often got quiet a lot with plenty of "Um's" and "Uh's" and "so's".

And it didn't help that the whole time I thought I couldn't even make eye contact with him, because then it would get even worse and he'd think I was... jeez, what would he even think I was doing? Checking him out? Just because he looked awesome without a shirt, didn't mean I wanted to...

Okay, it was a weird few minutes. I'll stop talking now.

We caught up with the group, who were clearing a circle of sand in a perfect spot that was surrounded by pretty sizable rocks and logs. Probably more than enough seats for everyone.

Kairi took out the matchbox and waved at us as we approached. "You guys found enough driftwood for sure!"

"Salt can change the fire different colors," Olette said, already sitting on a log while wrapping herself in a towel. "I can't wait to see what the wood does."

I dumped the wood into the circle. "Do we need some rocks or something?"

"Got you covered," Sora replied as he held up some mid-sized rocks to set around the wood. Everyone took a seat except for Kairi.

"IGNITION!" Axel grinned, poking Kairi's shoulder as he sat behind her next to Riku. "Light 'er up!"

"Okay, okay!" Kairi grumbled. "Don't rush me." She lit a match and dropped it onto the wood, lighting two more and dropping them both in to be sure.

"Hmm..." Roxas thought for a second. "Why's it take 1 match to start a forest fire, but three to start a controlled campfire?"

Everyone chuckled.

"We may figure out that it takes three matches to burn down a town today," Axel joked sarcastically, glancing at Kairi, who frowned.

I looked around the fire, taking note of who was sitting where. Sora and Kairi were on the rock to my left, snuggling showily. Of course.

Across from me was Riku and Axel on a log... Riku was leaning back and staring into the fire, probably seeing if it would change colors. The light reflected into his teal eyes, making me shiver with... I don't know what.

Next to me on my log was Namine, who had the seat next to Roxas. I felt like nudging her and congratulating her on the awesome spot, but I managed to refrain. Although, I did notice she looked a little nervous, trying to decide whether or not she could sit closer to him.

And on the final rock, across from Sora and Kairi, sat Olette Hayner and Pence. In that order.

"Truth or dare?" Sora suddenly piped up. "Axel."

"Dare," Ah, Axel always picked dare. You could tell by just looking at him for the first time in your life.

"Hmm... Take this marshmallow..." It seemed Sora was deeply thinking as he held out a marshmallow - and Pence grabbed the bag from him and started to put together a s'more. "No, take the bag of marshmallows, and shove twenty of them into your pants."

Axel laughed out loud. ((A/N he LOL'd)) "All right, you got it!"

"That's a total waste of marshmallows!" Pence whined as Axel reached over and grabbed the sack.

"Oh, shut up, it's a big bag." He snorted. "Okay, here we go."

As Axel was stuffing sugar into his pantaloons, Hayner turned to me. "Hey, Xion. T or D?"

He's like the only person ever to abbreviate it. But, as usual, I chose what I always choose. "Truth." The fire was just starting to get going, I noticed. A breeze blew it a little bigger.

"Hmm... ever had a romaaantic dream? Who was in it?" He broke into a smile, and Namine looked at me expectantly. She knew most of my secrets, but not this one.

I tapped my chin. "Yeah, Mr. McGregor."

A silence swept across the campfire, then suddenly everyone burst into loud laughter. "WHAT!" Sora shrieked, gasping for air. "REALLY?"

"NO, you idiots!" I called over their obnoxiousness. "I'm kidding. What, you think I dream of old men?"

"*cough*yes*cough*," Axel muttered, stuffing the final marshmallow in his pants.

"Ugh, can't believe you guys!" I tried to sound upset, but couldn't hold back a grin. "I've never had one."

Since I was a terrible liar - sometimes people thought I was lying even when I told the truth - everyone just assumed I answered right and dropped the subject. Someone would have noticed the red spreading across my cheeks if I had made up the answer.

"Roxas," Kairi suddenly perked up, sporting a devilish look that could only mean she thought of something really nasty. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Roxas smiled, leaning forward. "Lay it on me!"

"Have sexy times with marshmallow-pants Axel," She commanded. "Now."

My cousin noticeably paled. "Wh-WHAT!"

"You heard the woman," Pence said wryly, waggling his eyebrows. "Go at it."

"NO!"

"Yes."

"NO!" Roxas seemed very opposed to this, so Kairi sighed.

"Fine. Why don't you and Sora just arm-wrestle then? Decide who's manlier?" Jeez, Kairi was the best at thinking up Dares. What took someone a few minutes to think of, she thought of on the spot.

Sora stood up, probably seeking to regain his honor after losing so badly to Riku. "You're on, Rox!" He growled.

The two locked fists, elbows set on a rock, and started to arm-wrestle like they had been before I made them stop earlier today.

Namine, who was just about as interested in the boyish display as I was (aka not interested at all), nudged me. "Whatcha doing?" She murmured, while everyone cheered one of the two boys on.

"Nothing," I replied. Why ask such a random question...?

"Nothing?" She echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing but outrightly staring at my brother, then?"

My eyes widened and I looked at her. "I... I was? Oh, that's... weird. Must have been... accidental."

My friend looked at me, a smile spreading across her face. "Yup. Must have." She quickly directed her attention to the fight, and I looked into the fire.

That couldn't have been good. But she knew I didn't like Riku, right? Right?

She had to. It's not like accidentally MAYBE looking at someone meant you liked them.

...But knowing Nam, she'd probably do something that would make me regret that accident.

* * *

WHOAAAAAA! Boosted up to almost 3000 words this chapter! I had to get all this in, so... I'm very proud of myself for today. :D

I'm not getting a steady stream of reviews, but... they're still coming in decently! So I'm happy! THANK YOU to those of you who have reviewed me on this story, and even subscribed! I mean, I've just started. Maybe things will pick up!

This chapter started slow for me, but I really picked up as it went on, so... hope you enjoyed it. Ah, yes. Narrative.

.

_WILL Xion end up regretting staring at the hot-when-shirtless Riku?_

_WILL Sora ever become stronger than his best friend?_

_WILL Namine ever sit closer to her crush?_

_WILL Roxas win the arm-wrestling competition?_

___WILL Axel ever get those marshmallows out of his pants?_  


_AND most of all, WHEN is this going to turn into the romance story it was portrayed as?_

-Sono ^-^


	4. Chapter 4

'SUP people? I'm so happy, despite the fact that I have only three reviews. Right now, however, it doesn't feel like 3 simple reviews. It feels like... three saints just came down from the heavens and gave me a million dollars each.

Seriously.

Thanks to Lyena for being the first to review the story! AND ken08002 for reviewing me twice and being two of the heavenly saints :3

If you haven't reviewed yet, please do so. I have more subscriptions than I have reviews (still pretty cool though)! ^-^

* * *

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"And THAT'S how my husband discovered the Bermuda triangle, and its secret." My English teacher wrapped up, sitting on her desk. Little did she know, she was speaking to maybe 15 sleeping students and 10 students who were dozing off. I was one of the ones dozing off, actually.

English class always went that way, too, every day of the nearly ending school year. We never learned a thing. I'd _love_ so see what the finals would be about.

Last night at the beach ended pretty soon after Namine made that creepy comment - the one that's probably the only thing keeping me awake in class right now. Roxas beat my brother in arm-wrestling, but Sora's excuse was that he was tired after fighting with Riku. Which of course made everyone laugh.

The truth or dare game bounced around the fire a little more, but I wasn't asked anything else. Maybe that was because I looked so freaked out for the rest of the time.

The bell rang, snapping me back to reality.

Luckily, Olette was in this class with me, and we gathered up our books to head for lunch period. "So," she said, quiet as usual as we walked out the door and into the hallway. "Schools almost over, huh? Five more days."

It was weird because I hadn't even noticed before. That meant... I was almost done my first year in high school. Wow. "Oh, yeah." I replied, smiling. "Took long enough."

"Have any summer goals?"

Summer goals... "Nah, not yet," I muttered, shifting the weight of my books to one side. "Summer's the time to relax."

Olette laughed. "I guess so. I made a list about what I wanted to do, though."

I didn't say anything back... but I thought about summer goal lists until we stepped out of the English building and onto the campus. It was another sunny day, happily, making it the second lucky day in a row without rain. I crossed my fingers for a third.

Guess I'd better take advantage and eat outside, then.

Roxas and Namine came up to us, then, Namine toting her brown bagged lunch as always. "Hey guys!" She smiled, waving. At least she didn't seem to be so nervous around Roxas.

"Hi," Olette greeted back, looking around for probably a good place to sit. "Are we eating outside or what?"

"Of course we are," Roxas nodded, planting himself on a bench and taking his lunchbox from his backpack.

I was about to sit down with the others when I remembered something crucial.

Lunchbox.

"Oh, shoot!" I groaned. "My lunchbox is in homeroom! Sorry, I have to go get it!" CURSE my forgetfulness! CURSE IT! This is probably the tenth time this year.

"Come back fast!" Nam called as I sprinted towards the freshmen building, weaving through the people.

Ugh, around lunchtime is when it got really busy. Not only for the Freshmen, but for everyone - because it seemed like that was the one time when all of the classes lined up perfectly and everyone was outside walking to their next class.

I almost bumped into someone twice, so I had to slow my pace to a fast walk to avoid making such a mistake again. Almost there...

The crowd started to thin as I made my way to the freshmen building, so I picked up to a run again and turned the corner through the door...

...Suddenly slamming into someone head-on, sending their books sprawling across the ground.

"Crap!" I cried. "I'm sorry! I need to get-"

"Xion! Calm down, it's fine," It was Riku, leaning down to pick up his books. AUGHH NO! That was even worse than a stranger! "Isn't the lunch building... not this way?"

"Um... yes. About that..." I stuttered, helping him gather his final notebook. The blush started creeping across my cheeks. "You see, my lunchbox. It's... it's in here. I left it. So I have to go get it." Shut up! Shut up Xion!

Riku laughed lightheartedly, putting his hand on my shoulder. I stared at him like he was some strange octopus monster. "You would," He grinned. "Oh! Hey, that reminds me!"

"Reminds you of what?" Now would be the time I wanted to leave and get my lunchbag as fast as possible.

"Did Nam tell you? We're going to the theme park tomorrow. Can you come?"

I froze. What was this? What did this mean? Why was he asking?

"Sora's coming too," Riku continued, dropping his hand and making me visibly relax. "Just asking you for her if she hadn't gotten to it yet."

"Uh, yeah, sure," I said, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "I'll go."

"Sweet," Riku flashed me another smile. "See you then."

As he walked away I immediately started to pretend that didn't happen, grabbing my lunchbag from the empty homeroom and sprinting back to the bench our group was sitting at.

Well - the amount of our group that had lunch at the same time as me. Namine, Olette, and Roxas. Sora, Kairi and Riku had lunch with the sophomores, and Hayner and Pence ate at a different freshmen period than us.

Kind of annoying when it went like that, but... I got used to it about halfway through the year.

I sat down next to Namine and opened my lunchbox. "Ugh, sorry about that," I groaned. I started to eat my sandwich.

"So," Namine said, leaning back and crumpling her own sandwich bag into a ball. "How'd you do on the math homework last night? I thought the quadratic stuff was pretty-"

"NOOO!" I suddenly howled, almost dropping my lunch into the dirt. "THE MATH HOMEWORK! I forgot all about it!"

Olette and Roxas shared a glance. "You serious?" Rox said, his eyes wide. "That's not like you."

"You okay, Xion?" Olette questioned quietly.

Um, no! I forgot about it because we were up until ten at the beach and then I had to walk home... and... AUGHGHH! "What am I gonna do! This is terrible!"

Namine smirked. "You mean it _would_ be terrible."

"No, it's pretty much just terrible..." I looked at my friend from the corner of my eye.

"Let me finish," The blonde girl reached into her backpack with that same smirk on her face. "It _would_ be terrible...IF you didn't have such an awesome friend." And then she pulled out a copy of the math homework.

"AHHHH!" I squealed, grabbing it. "Nam, I LOVE you!"

"Oh, don't say things you don't mean," She chuckled.

I dug through my own (awesome) backpack for a piece of paper and a pen and started copying answers.

"Oh, right," Namine went on, standing up. "Can you come to the theme park with us? Riku asked Sora, soo..."

"Yeah, sure, I'll go," I nodded, still writing madly on my paper and not mentioning that I ran into Riku, who had already invited me.

"You 1A math geeks," Roxas scoffed as Nam threw all of the trash away. "Going for your geek-together with your geek friends."

"You're just jealous cuz you aren't going," I said, sticking my tongue out in his direction. Namine looked upset.

"Sorry, Rox..." She sighed. "Family things."

He laughed. "I was kidding. I get your family friendship stuff."

I finished scribbling down the answers and folded up the homework. "Dang, I'm gonna fail the final."

"You'll do fine. I heard it was easy from Riku," Namine offered, stretching her neck.

Was Riku as good at math as Namine was? If so, that's like saying... swimming was easy for a fish. But hard for a boulder.

Let's just say I'm the boulder and be done with it - because I'd gotten enough low 80's to high 70's in Math to know that.

The bell rang, signaling that it was time to move to the next period.

Augh, Math time.

x

(;6-6)

x

That afternoon, coming home, I dumped my backpack on the table as usual and sighed. "Ughghhgh yay for Fridays," I muttered to myself as Sora loudly came into the house after me.

"DON'T FEEAR THE REEAPER!" He sang, before I turned and glared at him.

"Shut up."

"Jeez, fine."

I walked over to the fridge and checked a note there, taking it down. "Dad left another note. His time was extended at the factory..."

"Mmkay," Sora opened the pantry and took out a jar of peanut butter. "Peanut butter?"

"How the hell are you not fat?" I frowned, hands on my hips. Honestly, he ate so much garbage.

"Gosh, PMS-ing much?"

I rolled my eyes and turned my back to him, grabbing my cell phone and running up to my room. Okay, so storming off didn't prove I wasn't PMS-ing. But I didn't care.

There was a small double-sided white board on my wall, and when I entered my room I took it down and plopped down on my bed. "A summer to-do list, eh?" I thought aloud, taking the marker's cap in my teeth and ripping it off. It got stuck sometimes, okay?

Five more days until summer vacation. For once in my life, I'd have to set some goals, at least.

On the white board I wrote the following, the marker squeaking frantically: ((A/N the box before each thing is a checkbox. It's a to do list, ehh? Ehhh?))

**[] Read over 10 good books**

**[] Have a sleepover**

**[] Meet a new person**

**[] Discover something new**

**[] Give a gift**

**[] Get musclessssss **(yeah, I spelled it like that. That's how I heard it in my head.)

**[] Embrace my shortness**

**[] Become a ninja.**

**[] Beat someone in arm-wrestling**

I thought for a moment. It seemed like this list needed something more, so... After a few seconds of deliberation, I added-

**[] Kiss a boy I like**

There. 11 things to do in almost three months. More than enough time.

Some of them I wasn't quite sure how to do yet (aka become a ninja) but I would figure out something. Partly, the list was a joke. But part of me inside actually wanted to finish it and be able to say I did everything on it. I looked at the last thing for a moment before hanging the white board back up on the wall.

"There," I muttered to myself.

Suddenly my phone vibrated wildly - I always kept it on vibrate, never ring - and I looked at it to see a text from an unknown number I'd never seen before.

Whoa. Creepy.

Creepier yet, the text read:

**Heyy, what's up Xion?**

**From: Restricted**

WHOAAAA how'd they know my name? SCARY!

I thought about ignoring the mystery stalker person, but changed my mind and clicked 'reply'.

**Um... who is this?**

**From: Me**

**To: Restricted**

I waited, and soon heard the vibrate once again.

**Srry, should have said. It's Nam ;-;**

**My fone ran out of minutes! Cn you bleve it?**

**Gotta use Riku's till I get moar. In about a month.**

**From: Restricted.**

OH! That was a relief. It wasn't a surprise, actually, seeing that Namine ran out of minutes. Her parents didn't want to give her unlimited because she used her own cell so dang much... it was like her primary form of communication, scheduling... time-tracking...

Surprising Riku would let her use _his_ phone, but I'd never seen him use it. He must not have it with him as much.

I replied.

**Oh, aiight. Gotta go do Friday hw now.**

**ttyl**

**From: Me**

**To: Restricted**

I added the number to my contacts as "Namine", not thinking much of it as I sat down to work.

Luckily I didn't have anything to do this afternoon, and Sora wasn't being too loud. I could do my homework.

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR HATH BEEN WRITTEN. SO MOTE IT BE.

Thanks again for your reviews... this was kind of a filler chapter, and not even close to as many words as last time. But oh well.

Tomorrow I'm gonna be away, I think, so I won't be able to update. Which is what I've been worried about, not being able to update every day. Sorry! -;

I know Xion seems obsessed with homework, LOL. Sorry, but that math teacher is really scary, and if you don't get your work done... *condescending music plays* You gonna get it. And you gonna get it bad.

Can't forget the cheesy narrative, but before I go ahead and say it, I'll add that I'm worried about how long and how many chapters this story's gonna get. I may split it into two if it seems like I'm gonna shoot past... twenty six chapters. Yes. Twenty six shall be the magic number. Narrative time.

.

_WILL Xion work on her summer list?_

_WILL Namine invite Roxas to the theme park?_

_WILL Riku get his phone back from his sister?_

_WILL the English teacher stop being so boring?_

_AND most of all, WHEN will our heroine stop being so forgetful?_

-Sono ^-^


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five beckons!

Don't really have much to say this time other than thanks to those (currently, one person. *sweat*) who continue to generously review my story!

It's starting slow, you see, but it makes me happy to see people interested in it, no matter how few. :D

Five is my lucky number BTW, so I hope it comes out... uhm.. as good as I want it to. :O

* * *

.

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"GOOOOD MORNING! GOOD MORNING!" The voice of my brother called, bursting through the door loudly.

I groaned and rolled over, covering my ear with a pillow. Unfortunately, however, Sora pulled the warm blankets off of me - exposing my black heart-print pj's.

"Urghghh..." I moaned quietly, squinting in the light. "Whaatt?"

"It's nine. Nine AM." Sora frowned, grabbing my wrist like a little kid.

"So?"

"So, I thought it was your job to drag peoples' asses out of bed."

True, normally it was. But today was Saturday. "There's no school though," I grumbled, dragging myself into a sitting position and rubbing my eye. "Nothing to do."

Sora flipped his hair to the side ((A/N ...somehow)) and scoffed like a stereotypical valley girl. "Um... wow. Can't believe you forgot." He can be so dumb sometimes.

My mind was a total blank. I'd been up late last night reading a new book I picked up at the local Twi-Library. Yes, it was actually called that. Worst pun ever.

The book was called "Crash Test Love" ((A/N good book, read it sometime :3)), and it was just getting intense at around midnight. So I didn't sleep until around one.

"Forgot about what?" I shifted to put my feet on the ground.

"The theme park with Riku and Namine today!" He suddenly got really excited, picking a stuffed panda from my bed and tossing it against the wall.

"AUGH hey!" I yelled, running over and grabbing it. "Okay, okay! I get it! Theme park today. What time?"

"I dunno. Noon?"

He doesn't _know_? "Fine, three hours from now. Sheesh."

Sora skipped out the door, leaving me to get dressed into a pair of jean capris and a "Death Note" shirt I picked up off the internet. Yes, it was a dude shirt.

I spied my phone on the dresser while reaching for my brush and thought about texting Namine... but changed my mind. I'd just do it later. After breakfast.

My stomach growled to angrily remind me how hungry it was.

I trotted downstairs to see Sora jamming to his iPod, playing imaginary drums. I held back a laugh - while glancing at the phone to see if there was a message. None.

Hm... what to have for breakfast...

I reached into the pantry and pulled out some peanut butter and bread. Yes, I was going to have toast. Saturday wasn't my day to be creative.

While I popped the bread in the toaster I thought about my mental schedule for the day, which currently just included going to the theme park and nothing else like the lazy person I was.

What else was there to do... "Hey, Sora." I called, still working on turning the toaster's dial to the right temperature.

No answer. Ohh, right... he was ruining his hearing with that iPod of his.

"Sora!" A little louder this time - yet still no reply. I frowned. "HEY, BUTTFACE!"

My brother jumped, yanking out his earbuds with a scowl in my direction. "What? Jeez!"

A grin crossed my face. "Ha, I said buttface and you looked."

"_What_ do you want?"

Guess he wasn't in the mood for being teased that morning. "I'm gonna go to the game store today before we head to the Theme Park with Nam. And Riku." I added the last fragment on the end a little _too _quickly and awkwardly.

"Fine, go." He was probably still mad that I called him a buttface, so I let him delve back into his music without mentioning anything else.

The toast popped up and I quickly slathered some peanut butter on it, practically inhaling the breakfast so I could leave. I was pretty sure the store opened at Eight or Nine, at least, so it would be open when I got there.

It'd been a while since I went there, too. There were probably a million things to choose from.

The thought made me tap my foot as I poured a glass of milk.

I quickly gulped down the beverage, and ran upstairs to snatch my wallet from the dresser. It was a pretty cool looking wallet, one I made out of duct tape a few years ago at a sleepover Namine had. As usual, Riku hardly conversed with the group of giggling girls at all, despite them converging in the room next to his. He tended to do that when a large group of females he wasn't familiar with was nearby. Guys, however, didn't seem to be a problem. Go figure.

I was at the door in less than a minute and stomped into my black converse shoes (not a good idea, in retrospect) and was outside into the morning sun in a matter of seconds. The game store wasn't far from my house in the Twilight Town plaza, luckily, probably only a mile or so's walk from the end of my street. At the beginning of the year I had visited there often, but slowly stopped as studying for Math tests became my prime concern.

There were hardly an cars on the street as I walked. It wasn't even near the time where Twilight Town was busy, which usually was sometime in the afternoon after school was over - when the kids were all driving and running around being... kids.

The store was just a couple blocks away then. I rubbed my eye. Maybe I should pick up Final Fantasy XIII. I had been meaning to, after all, ever since it came out, but never got around to it. I'd heard it was really good. When I went passing by the ice cream store I paused.

Was it too early to get ice cream? Psh, no. It's never too early for ice cream. I stopped at the counter to grab a sea salt flavor - the favorite of Roxas, Axel and me - and glanced over at the game store over my shoulder. It sat just across the street, a little diagonally from where I stood. _Twilight Games_ was on a sign by the door. Yeah, they really overuse the whole "Twilight" thing here.

Whoa, what was that? Did I catch a glimpse of blonde hair in there?

"Which flavor, miss?" The shopkeeper muttered, obviously bored and upset to be up at work this early. Axel had _loved_ his job there. What made the manager dump my friend to pick up this loser?

I stared at the boy behind the counter, probably seeming slightly angry. "Sea salt." I might as well have requested for his lungs. The look of horror on his face said it all.

Was I really that pissed?

Well, in the past I could have gotten this for free, with Axel working here.

"Y-yes ma'am."

While I waited for my ice cream I turned back to the game store behind me. Who was that person I saw? Are they still there?

I took my Sea Salt Popsicle from the guy and made my way over to the door of the building across the street, pushing it open to the sound of little bells.

The game store was awesome. Discs for every console imaginable practically coated the walls, separated by the game creators. Everyone there was always so nice and helpful... they played good music... it was air conditioned on hot days...

Best place ever. Well, in the Top Ten, at least.

I made a B-line for the Square Enix section and looked through until I found what I was looking for. Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3. Dang, Square Enix was the best.

That's when I turned around, about to walk to the register, but saw Roxas looking through the Metal Gear Solid games. I grinned. "Hey, Roxas!"

He looked at me, eyes wide. "Oh! Xion! Um... what are you doing here?"

I held up the game in my hand, raising an eyebrow. "You're acting like you just committed a crime." I suddenly remembered the ice cream in my hand and licked it a few times to keep it from melting all over me.

"Just surprised to see you here. Final Fantasy? That's a good one. You know, Snow-"

"AHH!" I yelled, blocking my ears. "NONONO NO SPOILERS, MISTER!"

"Okay okay!" My cousin held out his hands defensively. "Have fun playing it."

"I will. Oh, hey, can you hold this for a sec?" I handed him the ice cream so I could pay for the game at the counter. Good thing I remembered money.

Roxas gave the Ice Cream back to me when I was done - did it look a little smaller...? - and we walked outside together.

"So," He smiled. "You still going to the theme park with Nam and Riku?"

"Yeahh..." I replied with a frown. I knew how Namine felt, just then. Why couldn't he come with us? It's not like it was a private meeting.

"I hope you have fun!"

"Wait. Rox."

"Hm?"

I thought for a second. Namine wouldn't mind if I invited him, right? I mean, she'd love it. She was _sad_ he wasn't going, riiight? "I know Nam's family and mine have like... a private sort of routine that everyone's used to."

My cousin held up his hands and waved them around. "Yeah, yeah. It's been that way forever. I get it."

"But why don't you come to the park with us? It would be fun with more people there. And it's not like we should keep blocking other people out of our circle." I fidgeted with the game bag, embarrassed.

Wow, he looked... pretty overjoyed, actually. "Woa, Xion!" He laughed. "That would be awesome! Thank you! When?"

"Twelve. Or so says Sora."

"That's only in like... a couple hours! Jeez, I gotta get ready!"

I grinned as he ran off in the direction of his house - which happened to be the same direction my house was in. My grin dropped. "ROXASS!" I called. "WAIT! Don't go so fasttt!"

Curse these slow legs!

x

(^O^)

x

I sat down on a bench at the park entrance, letting out a big breath. "You guys don't have to race every five seconds you know," I growled, glancing at Sora and Roxas. They were practically dead on the ground after running _almost_ all the way from the house to the park, which was more than a mile and a half away. Too bad we didn't have a car like Riku and Namine. Even if Riku wasn't _technically_ allowed to drive. He seemed good at it.

I glanced at my watch. "You sure it was noon?"

Sora was still gasping for air. "Y...yes." Gasp, gasp. "That's what... they said."

"Fine. Hope you heard right." It was almost Twelve and they weren't here yet still. I suddenly felt worried that they weren't coming... even though it didn't make sense to think that. Of course they'd come. Why wouldn't they?

I kept my eye out for a blue jeep, suspecting that Riku would be driving the same one he was last time at the beach.

...And then thinking about the beach made me remember what Namine had said, and that had me worried for a different reason.

And would she try to get back at me for letting Roxas come?

Suddenly a car horn honked loudly at us.

"Riku!" I heard Namine's voice moan. "Lay up on the horn, okay? Jeez!"

Riku laughed, parking the car nearby us and hopping out, slamming the door. His laugh was so cool.

Whoa, wait. What?

"How else would they even know we were here?" He gestured to Sora and Roxas on the ground. "_They _weren't paying attention."

Nam's eyes went wide. "Roxas! What are you doing here?"

"Xion... invited... me," He wheezed, closing his eyes. He looked so funny, laying on the sidewalk and lifting his head up, that I laughed. And Namine followed suit.

"Well, that's good. I hope nobody else minds."

"Sora doesn't seem to," I chuckled.

"I'm fine with it," Riku shrugged, glancing around at everyone. "The more the merrier."

"Get up you guys," I grabbed Sora's arm and started trying to pull him to his feet, while Namine grabbed Roxas's arm and tugged on him.

"We've gotta go in! And spend as much time there as we can!" Namine's face got a little red with the strain, but she dragged Roxas to his feet. "Hurry up, Sora!"

Roxas opened his eye to a slit and glanced at Namine, then smirked and playfully collapsed on top of her again. "Soooo tired," He groaned.

"Ahhh! Roxas, get _off_!" Nam yelped, but her sentence was completely distorted by uncontrollable laughter.

Riku rolled his eyes and made his way to the park gates. "I'm gonna go in without you guyss..."

"Wait up!" Sora called, suddenly standing up and breaking free of my grasp to run after his friend. Still laughing, Roxas, Nam and I followed after him.

* * *

Sorry for a late post of this chapter! Thought I'd be busy for just one day... but turns out I was busy for a few. And kind of lazy.

But a lot of people take longer than this to update so... I guess I'm still okay. And I also know that I have maybe one or two ardent readers who actually care when my posts come out - (thank you guys again) - so that's another reason why being a couple days late isn't much of a deal...

I can't forget the narrative, but before I do it I just want to remind everyone to REVIEW! And to happily announce that Xion purchasing FF XIII in this chapter is commemorating the start of me beginning to play the game! Yayyy! I'm not that far into it yet thanks to busy-ness but... it's fun to play. :D

Okay, Narrative.

.

_WILL Namine get back at Xion in the park?_

_WILL Roxas make a move? *waggles eyebrows*_

_WILL Xion realize her feelings for Riku?_

_WILL... blahbahbfkgh?_

_AND most of all... WHY hasn't Riku been caught driving without an adult 21 years of age or older in the vehicle along with him?_

-Sono ^-^;


	6. Chapter 6

The number of reviewers I have acquired has surpassed a number that which is fathomable by mankind.

Ahahaha... AKA, I have FOUR total reviewers, and even more reviews by the same people who keep recycling. ^-^

Thanks to suigestsu-is-da-bomb for - indirectly - making me get off my butt to write this chapter. You too, random reviewer (?).

I'm making you one person. Sorry if you're not. :3

I'm counting on you guys, you see! Keep me out of my writers block!

Hehe, you should have seen my face when I saw the reviews. Keep reading you guys! ^-^

In case you were getting bored, this chapter is where things may start to happen. *coff* just saying...

**DISCLAIMER - The characters and the worlds do not belong to me. **

The plotline, however, all me, baby. *kisses peace sign* word.

* * *

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"Ohhhh where should we go first!" Namine giggled, surveying the gigantic park. Across from us were the rides, and to the sides sat the heavily unhealthy snack huts, where we usually visited last. Sora was already running ahead.

"Let's go on the roller coaster!" He insisted. My face went green.

"NO!" I snapped, worried. The roller coaster they had at this park was one of those ones that went upside down. Even if it was just for a little bit, I still hated the idea. Not to mention how I didn't like the feeling of my stomach dropping. "We can go on the kitty coaster..."

"Psh," Namine chuckled. "That's lame."

"C'mon guys..." I moaned. "Let's just do some other rides first. I'll wait out the big scary death machine when we get to it."

"Fine," Nam muttered.

We walked a little deeper into the park, which was pretty empty considering it was a weekend. Maybe everyone was at home studying for... finals.

Crap, finals. I forgot about them...

"Hey!" Roxas pointed to one of those flume rides where you sit in a log and ride down a river. This one had three consecutive hills in it, the last one being the biggest with the greatest splash at the end.

I'd been to this park so much, I had memories of going on the flume when I was a little younger. At the top of the highest hill there's usually a person sitting in a box for some reason - probably manning the ride and making sure it's okay - and it never got old to make faces at them as we went by in the fake plastic log.

"Let's go on the flume!" My cousin grinned. Sora shrugged.

"It's a little bit of a baby ride..." He muttered, crossing his arms.

"You kidding?" I gasped, pushing him. "It's the funnest thing in the whole place!"

"...Said the baby," Nam teased.

"Oh, shush."

"We going or not?" Riku, always the first to get ahead of everyone else, was already making his way over to the fence.

The line for the Flume Frenzy, as it was called, was usually very long. They had a huge amount of line space fenced off to hold the people waiting, but today only three or four people were in front of us. We ducked under the metal poles and came up behind the small group, the five of us anxiously standing in a row. (Something we could never really do so well)

I sat on the fence and watched as one of the plastic logs came around to board onto. It looked like it could fit no more than three people, which meant that we'd be separated into a group of three and a group of two afterwards.

Looking around my friends, I silently numbered off who would be riding with me. I was second in line, so that, of course, meant I was going to be in the first group. Riku was in front of me, and Namine was behind me. Sora and Roxas were last.

"Jeez, this is a new shirt," Riku muttered to himself with a frown, looking at the red and black t-shirt he was wearing. Namine poked her head out from behind me.

"Mom would be wicked mad if it was ruined from all the dirty water..." She said. There was something about her tone I didn't like.

"Yeah, but it's just water," Her brother shrugged. "She'll wash it later."

A slight pause occurred... and I assumed Namine dropped the subject. That, however, was dead wrong. "Riku, you know a lot of little kids ride this flume..." It almost sounded like she was trying to persuade him as our plastic log floated up to us.

"Next group, please board," The manager said monotonically.

"Yeah, and?" Riku got into the front of the log, I got into the middle, and Namine sat comfortably in the back.

"Well... you know what little kids do when there's a ton of water..." Namine looked down slightly, glancing at Riku from the corner of her eye. He went red.

"Oh JEEZ! Gross!"

And he slipped his shirt off - yes, you heard right - and threw it at Sora.

"Put that in the keepsakes box for me!" He called, as the log started to move. The Keepsakes box is what they have on the flume and other roller coasters... people who wear sunglasses onto rides or have backpacks can dump their stuff into it for the time being. I always wondered if someone could steal from it.

The point was, Riku was sitting shirtless in front of me, and Namine was sporting a completely evil grin in back of me. I was frozen in terror.

"What are we gonna do to the guy in the box on top of the hill?" Riku grinned, turning to look at Nam and me obliviously.

"We should all say we're passionately in love with him," Namine gasped dramatically, putting the back of her left hand to her forehead. I still couldn't speak, not even when Riku turned his head to me to hear my idea. Is this how Namine is getting me back?

Tick, tick, tick. The log started up the first hill, tipping upwards and making Riku slide backwards onto me. "ACK! Sorry!" He tried to pull himself forward to _not_ crush me... but his plan wasn't working so well. "Hey, Xion, you with us?"

Crap, had I been staring at him? The fact that I could practically feel Namine glaring at me from behind said I had been.

This was suddenly my least favorite ride.

"I said, what should we do to the box guy at the top of the -" Riku broke off as the log slowly tipped down the hill, then careened to the bottom, creating a pathetically small splash. I didn't even get wet.

"Uhm... uh..." I groped for words hopelessly... the ride continued on. "We should all... I don't know, Nam's idea sounds fine..."

"You don't seem to into this," Namine said, sounding innocent in the evil kind of way.

"Oh, hmm..."

We began going up the second hill. This one was a little bigger... and therefore would create a greater splash. Tick tick tick tick...

Riku slid onto me again. "Oh, God. Sorry again," He struggled to hold himself forward. "I'm not crushing you, am I?"

"Uh... no, not at all," I couldn't seem to rip my eyes away from his body. AUGH not cool, Xion! Definitely NOT COOL.

"Here we goooo!" Namine raised her arms as we went down the slope. I was never much into doing that, raising my arms. I always felt like I had to grab onto something to keep myself stable so I wouldn't fall off.

...But in this case, the only thing to grab onto was Riku. And that's a big no-no.

"Here comes the last one," Riku chuckled. "Get ready to do your thing, girls. Get your most..." Riku switched into a soft, lulling tone. "..._SEXY _voices ready."

"Hey, you're gonna say it too," Namine teased, reaching over me to poke her step-brother.

"I'm not gonna say I'm gay for the box guy! What if he remembers me next time!"

Namine started laughing as we began up the final hill. "Oh boy," She grinned. "This is my favorite part. Xion, isn't this your favorite part?"

Riku slid back onto me for the third time. "Oh yes. I _LOVE_ this part." My teeth were gritted. Namine, you are going to pay...

"Hey, it's Sora," Riku pointed to the beginning of the ride at my brother and cousin, still fighting to get to the front of the log where the splash was wetter in the end. The employee was yelling at them to sit down while the ride was in motion.

"HEYYY, ROXAS!" Namine waved, but he didn't see. Probably too busy wrestling with Sora. As to be expected.

Suddenly we were at the top of the hill... and Namine turned to the big, wooden box next to us, only to see that nobody was inside.

"Aw..." She whined. "He must be off of his shIIIFFFFFTTTT!" And then we were flying down the biggest slope. I had nothing to grab onto... and felt like I was going to lift out of my seat the entire way down. When we hit the bottom, of course, my butt crashed onto the floor of the log and I cowered behind Riku's back to keep from getting splashed.

Poor Riku. It must've been cold without a shirt.

"WOO!" Namine yelled, shaking the water from her hair.

"YEAH!" Riku's hair was totally flat and sticking to his neck and shoulders... He looked kind of like one of those models or something.

Wait... _what_?

Since I had a 'shield' I wasn't as wet as I could've been... only my back and the very top of my hair was soaked.

"Aww, Xion cheated," Namine leaned forward and wrung out her hair onto my head.

"HEY! Namine!" I yelped.

"Next time, shortest in front," Riku chuckled, stepping out of the log as it came to a stop.

He grabbed his shirt from the keepsakes box and slipped it on. Whew, that was a little better on my eyes.

"When Roxas and Sora come we _need_ to look at the picture!" Namine gasped, excited. That was her favorite part, and my least favorite part due to my hatred of cameras. The flume ride had a camera that was timed to take a picture of the group as they were going down the final hill... therefore catching their weird expressions. Namine always looked great in any picture... and I always looked gross. Every time.

"Here they come," Riku said as Sora and Roxas's log came floating in.

BOTH of them were soaked out of their minds. Sora's hair was even almost flat. Almost.

"Had fun?" I chuckled.

"HECKS YES!" Roxas grinned, pumping his fist into the air. "We NEED to look at the pictures!"

Ah, so Roxas liked seeing the snapshots, too.

We went to the nearby picture stand to check them out.

"Hey, you can't even see Xion!" Sora pointed out the picture of Me, Nam, and Riku as it came up on a screen.

"Yeah, she used me as a barrier," Riku said, stooping his shoulders to make himself look like a wall. Roxas, Sora and Namine chuckled. I didn't.

"Uhm... what are you guys doing?" Nam questioned as the picture of Sora and Rox appeared. Sora was pulling Roxas's hair, and Roxas was turning around and doing... what looked like trying to drag Sora to the bottom of the log.

"Oh," Roxas frowned. "I was trying to get the bigger splash. It didn't work out."

"Of course not," I said. "What ride are we going to next?"

We hurried off to the next attraction, which happened to be... the Kiddy Coaster. YAY ME! It was one of my favorite rides... and at that point had replaced the Flume for _the_ favorite, because I sat next to Roxas and didn't have to look at a shirtless Riku. Also very good.

The line for that ride was short - nobody really liked it much - so we were in and out in no time and ready to go on the next one.

"The Twister?" I read aloud.

"Yeah," Roxas said, gesturing with his hands. "The one that spins so fast you stick to the wall and the floor drops."

"Oh. Uh... I don't know..." Yeah, I was a bit of a theme park ride coward, I know. I was afraid of getting sick.

"Don't worry," Riku put his hands in his pockets, looking up at the sign for the ride. "Don't look up and you won't even notice you're spinning."

"C'mon Xion," Namine persuaded. "It's like the funnest ride in the park."

"I wanna try it out!" Sora started pushing ahead, not leaving me time to think as I was dragged along by Namine, followed by Riku and Sora. The line was short, and we got right onto the attraction. It was like a big round room with an open top that we could see the sky through. We all walked in through a door and they closed it, instructing us to stand against the wall.

"Feel free to hold my hand if you need to," Nam said softly. There's the nice friend I know and love. "It's kind of scary at first."

And then the ride started spinning. As it got faster, it was kind of creepy to feel myself being pressed against the wall harder and harder.

And then the floor dropped.

I squeaked and grabbed for the nearest hand.

And... of course. It wasn't Namine's hand.

I looked to the side as much as I could - you know, stuck to the wall and everything - to see Riku. He was staring at me like I was some crazed, twelve-eyed tentacle monster, probably because I was tightly gripping _his_ hand, rather than Nam's, which I'd intended.

In a normal situation, this wouldn't have even mattered. It wouldn't have mattered if it was a random stranger I had grabbed. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Roxas, or Axel, or Kairi, even.

But this was Riku.

And my hand was stuck to his, unable to be moved.

I closed my eyes and pretended this whole situation _wasn't_ the most awkward thing in the universe. Did Namine see? Oh, Jeez, i hope she didn't see.

As you can imagine, the few minutes I was on that ride was total HELL. And even after we were walking away from it (Riku seemed to be consciously jamming his hands into his pockets, his face flushed red) I still kept trying to remember what his hand felt like in my head.

Why?

I don't know.

After trying out a few more rides, Sora finally insisted we go on the upside-down roller coaster.

But, unfortunately, he was the only one that was up for it, so everyone had to wait at the entrance while he alone went inside.

Bummer.

Riku was leaning against the fence, while Namine and Roxas were playing rock paper scissors next to him. I just... stood there.

"Aughh, lost again." Roxas moaned.

"Don't mess with me, I'm a master," Nam stuck her tongue out playfully in my cousin's direction. He mimicked the action.

"Hey, anyone else hungry?" Rox suddenly brought up, rubbing his neck.

"Nah," Riku said, looking down.

"No thanks," I shrugged. Nam blinked.

"I am," She replied, laughing.

"Yeah, I brought money and I'm starved," Roxas moaned. "Might as well use cash when I have it. C'mon Nami."

_NAMI? _Never heard him call her THAT before.

But this left Riku and me alone as they walked away. Shit.

"So..." Riku began, scratching his head.

"Yeah?"

"Just trying to spark a nice conversation," He grinned then, making my heart throb.

"Ah... Nice work," I shot him a thumbs up, which coaxed him into laughing. He looked even better when he laughed.

Waaiit... _WHAT_? Okay, Xion, time to stop thinking that way.

We stood there for a few minutes. When was Sora coming back?

"So... how do you like the rides?" Riku tried again to 'spark a nice conversation'.

"I've been on all of them a lot... except for the... Twister." My face went red talking about that ride. Okay, I've got to get out of here.

"Yeah, I always go on that one because-"

"Uhm.. I need to go to the bathroom," I cut Riku off rather rudely, licking my lips. My lips got dry when I was nervous.

Yeah, that meant I was pretty much nervous by that time.

"Oh... all right. Come back soon."

"Yeah... I will." I hurried off in the direction of the bathroom - which was next to a food stand - only to go inside and stare into the mirror for about five minutes straight.

I splashed some water on my face.

"What's up with me..." I murmured, trying to cool down the heat that was radiating from my cheeks.

I shook my head, and waited for a little while longer for me to get my bearings before stepping outside.

I turned, about to go back to the roller coaster, when I saw Roxas and Namine near the back of a close by food stand. I started running over. It looked like they were done eating. Maybe they didn't know the way back to-

I froze.

Roxas had one hand on Nam's cheek... and the other dangerously low on her waist. It looked like... it looked like they were... leaning closer.

My eyes went wide as I saw Namine angle her head, her lips only a few centimeters from Rox's. The moment seemed to drag on forever in what was probably just a few seconds, me staring at the two of them. They hadn't noticed me yet?

Their lips barely began to touch when Sora burst over to them, probably not even noticing their... serious position. ((A/N OMG SORA GRRRR!))

Roxas staggered back so much I thought he was going to fall over.

"THAT WAS EPIC!" My brother yelled, jumping around. Riku was following close behind him, rolling his eyes. Had he noticed either?

Namine was trying to douse the redness in her cheeks, obviously, and her breathing was unnaturally heavy.

"Xion's at the bathroom," Riku said. I ran over to them, trying to keep a straight face.

"Just got back. Are we... ready to leave?"

"I am," Sora put in. "I've done what I must do."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Riku shrugged.

"Me too," Nam frowned, glancing at Roxas.

"Yeah," He agreed. We left, an eerie air of awkward rising from everyone in the group but Sora.

...Of course he's the oblivious one.

x

(oDo)

x

.

~:Riku's POV:~

I laid back onto my bed, face into a pillow.

My heart was throbbing hard as I gripped the bedspread, trying to calm myself down. What was that about today?

I don't know her, not personally. This... can't be actual _feelings_. It can't. Can it?

What happened today meant nothing. Or, at least, that's what I was trying to convince myself. But It wasn't working.

A migraine suddenly worked its way into my head, making me groan and roll over onto my back. Ow, ow, ow... what's going on? How can I be feeling this?

"Riku?" I heard Namine call from downstairs. "Are you okay?"

I couldn't bring myself to reply with anything beyond an agonized moan.

"Have you... you know..?" She seemed almost tentative to say it. I gritted my teeth.

"I'm FINE!" I yelled, tossing a pillow across the room. "I don't NEED any, okay!"

Namine didn't reply. She didn't need to. I know she was feeling sorry enough for me already.

Suddenly my phone vibrated on my nightstand, and I leaned over to look. It was a text message.

From... Xion?

x

(=j=);

x

.:Xion's POV:.

((A/N longest chapter yet. Don't worry... it's almost over. :3 GAWD it's late.))

I flopped onto my bed.

That was a tough day for what was meant to be a relaxing trip to the theme park.

Especially since I almost just saw my cousin and my best friend make out. It brought up so many questions...

Did they plan to be alone? Was it the first time? What brought it on?

It suddenly occurred to me that I could ask Namine. Yeah, that didn't seem to be the most subtle or wise of moves, but we were always upfront with each other about everything. She would definitely explain if i asked.

I whipped out my phone and sent a text message.

**Hai thar!**

**From: Me**

**To: Namine**

I decided I would start out normal, then build up to it at the right time. Couldn't jump right into it, of course, because that would seem mean and eager.

...Even though Namine made Riku take his shirt off today.

I shook my head, just as the reply text came in. That has nothing to do with this, so don't make Namine's actions effect how _you_ act, I told myself.

**Hey**

**From: Namine**

**To: Me**

I looked at my phone in confusion. It wasn't like Namine to reply so briefly. Well, maybe she was busy.

I texted back, and we had a pretty long conversation about how fun the park was. But she didn't give any indication about the... thing with Roxas.

Weird. Normally she would mention something like that. Her whole... I don't know, _style_ of writing seemed different to me somehow. But I couldn't put my finger on it.

It was probably just my imagination being weird.

It was almost twelve by the time I shut off my phone to stop messaging Nam. It was weird, I'd never had as much fun talking to anyone before. If you could call it "talking". Texting is usually dull to me, but this time it seemed as if I was speaking to Namine face to face, and we were laughing and enjoying jokes together.

Huh. I couldn't wait to do it tomorrow.

I shut off the light and went to bed... wondering what would happen tomorrow.

* * *

WOO! It is 11:53 right now, and I finished the chapter! I'm proud of myself for completing such a long chappy _and _a oneshot story about Roxas and Axel ALL IN ONE DAY! *applause sounds*

Thank you, thank you.

I also would like to thank the reviewers, who I have grown to love already. :3 you guys seriously keep me going. But... more reviews wouldn't hurt... *coff*

REVIEW! It's what keeps me writing! You read, you review!

Like you break it you bought it only no breaking or buying involved.

THIS chapter is when things start to pick up, as you can see, and it's opened some mystery into the relationship between Roxas and Namine... and given you something to wonder about. What's up with Riku in the few moments I have of him in the spotlight?

Here comes the narrative...

.

_WILL Xion find out who she's really texting?_

_WILL Roxas and Namine end up kissing again?_

_WILL Kairi and the others become a part of the story?_

___WILL Xion ride the BIG roller coaster?_  


_AND most of all... WHAT is up with Riku?_

.

-Sono ^-^;


	7. Chapter 7

O-kay! I'm excitedly beginning to write this chapter... because I can't wait to finally start to get my feet wet in... *cue music*

INTENSE WRITING.

Sure, it might not occur in this chapter, specifically, but I've grown up being very self conscious of what I put onto paper.

Now I'm going to take total liberty and write it however I want :3 WOOO!

I don't do dramatic scenes very much, so when it gets to those parts I'll have to be very dilligent. XD

Here we go.

* * *

.

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"AUGH!" I moaned, quickly erasing an incorrect answer. It was two periods before lunch in my American Government class - and we were studying for finals. The weekend had breezed by, actually, after Saturday's theme park trip.

On Sunday I hadn't managed to text Namine after our awesome conversation that didn't happen to answer any of my questions...

But, luckily, right before lunch I had Physical Science with her. The perfect time to confront her about my cousin without anyone else being there.

The teacher, earlier in the period, had passed us out study guides with fill-in-the blank answers. Social Studies wasn't my strongest subject. It was only second worst to math, of course, which I was still dreading even studying for.

I'd probably need to seek help in that department.

"Ahh, yes..." I finally finished the first page of the packet - which, mind you, held about ten pages - and glanced up at the clock. There were only ten minutes left of this class. I rested my head on the desk in annoyance.

Hayner was sitting behind me and glanced over my shoulder, probably to get a sneak peak.

"Hey!" I snapped quietly, to avoid getting yelled at by the teacher. "No peeking, you cheater!"

"You talk to yourself whenever you get a right answer," He muttered grudgingly, looking back down at his own half-completed page.

"Doesn't give you an excuse."

"Miss Koizumi?" ((A/N Omg Xion's last name. In honor of... *coff* Koizumi. From The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.)) I heard the teacher say angrily. I looked up, my face flushing red.

"Yes?" I muttered.

"Should this worksheet be an excuse for socializing?"

"N-no ma'am."

"Then don't act like it is. There are five minutes left of class, don't get removed now."

'Removed' made it sound like an assassin would pick me off. When, in reality, I'd probably get sent to the principal, who I'd been wrongly sent too enough times for him to know my parent's first names. He knows all about my dad hardly being around and everything.

Speaking of which, when I got home I'd have to check and see when dad was getting back.

I kept writing and erasing and rewriting (and repeating).

The bell - which was, in reality, just a really loud beeping noise that practically made you deaf - went off by the time I finished page two of the worksheet (it was easier than page one.) I gave Hayner a mocking angry glare, and he shrugged as I gathered up my books and went outside into the hallway.

Okay, Physical Science awaits. I had to walk outside and head for the nearby Science building.

While I was doing that, though, I started plotting in my head what I'd say to Namine. Maybe I could approach the subject as if I hadn't seen her and Rox kiss? To see if she'd tell me the truth?

I suddenly corrected myself and rethought that they didn't _actually _kiss. My dumb brother stopped them. But hey, it was going to happen. So it could pretty much be put in the same category.

I walked across some grass and over a stone path, dodging a few people that almost very rudely bumped into me as I walked. Right before I walked into the Science building... it looked like someone was trying to approach me.

Not like, come into the same building as me, but... approach _me_, personally. I thought I caught a flash of teal eyes staring in my direction before remembering I couldn't be late.

I took a seat in the first room on the left, gripping my science book nervously, next to Namine.

"All right, class," The teacher said. She was a young woman with long brown hair that never realized students don't actually listen to her. "Today's going to be a study day, so I want you all to ace your finals, okay? First final test is tomorrow, be prepared for it."

Namine took out her book and silently began to write notes, keeping her eyes low.

She was definitely quieter than usual.

I nudged her. "Nam," I whispered.

She pretended not to hear me.

"Nam!" I tried again, raising my voice to a yell-whisper this time. She looked up.

"Whaddaya wanttt?"

Namine usually never even needed to study for finals. She was a straight A student, who never had any problems with anything school-related. She was obviously upset for some reason.

"Well..." I bit my lip. "I have a question. You have to answer it honestly."

"Shoot," My friend shrugged, partially going back to studying. She seemed a little more normal now. Was it just an act?

"Do you like Roxas?"

Namine gagged loudly, and it seemed to echo before the room seemed to grew eerily silent. The young teacher glared at us.

"Ladies, is there a problem?"

"N-no," I stuttered. Second time I got in trouble today. Dang, wasn't used to that. I was the good girl, and _Sora_ was the jokester who got sent to the principal for annoying the teacher in class.

"Then I suggest you quiet down before you _become_ a problem."

Was that a threat? Whatever. I whipped out a fuXion pen - i loved them because they had my name in the brand - and started scribbling a question in my notebook.

_Spill._ I wrote simply, and slid it over to Nam when the teacher's back was turned.

She gave me a look that said, 'Notes? Are we in elementary school?' and grudgingly wrote her answer and passed it back to me.

_Yes, okay?_

At least she's honest. I flashed her a smile and scribbled down a reply in my boyish handwriting.

_I knew it! What have I been telling you all this time?_

The teacher glanced at us from her desk, and immediately we pretended to be working. When she looked back Namine continued her note.

_Yeah, yeah._

After that she refused to pass notes any more. Shucks.

I didn't get her to tell me she and my cousin had _almost_ kissed at the Theme Park on Saturday, but I would understand why she wanted to keep that a secret. So I didn't even give it a second thought. Maybe she'd tell me later if they ended up as... a couple.

The very thought of the two of them together made me giddy, and immediately i let out a happy squeaky noise.

Oops. A little too vocal with my feelings.

Everyone in the looked at me like I had a mental disorder.

"Koizumi!" My Science teacher barked. "I said one more problem and you'd be sent to the office!"

Dang. Harsh today, are we? And technically she didn't say that, either.

At least going to the office wasn't the same as going to the principal, which was much higher on the punishment scale. The office sentence involved sitting and waiting out through your classes... hardly a punishment, actually. Except for the huge workload you'd get later.

"Uhm... I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"I certainly hope not!"

Namine was looking at me with a giant grin on her face, trying to hold back laughter. Oh shut up, jerk.

I looked down at my book and tried to study then, even though I really did have the Science final in the bag and didn't need to bother. It was good to be extra sure I'd get a good grade.

Anything below an 85 would make BOTH of my parents angry. It would seem as though my Dad didn't care about my grades, but he really did. Almost as much as my mom, who couldn't stand anything under a 90, in fact. My personal standards were somewhere in the 82-90 area.

You can just see that their outlooks on me are much higher than my own outlook on myself.

I started absentmindedly scribbling a picture of an onion with a face before I looked at Namine's notebook.

My jaw dropped.

Namine was doodling too. As you can imagine, her "doodles" are more along the lines of amazing works of art rather than pieces of garbage like my own. The entire margin of her page was COVERED in hearts, and in the center, right on top of her notes, was a picture of Roxas drawn right from her memory.

She must have had a lot of practice with that particular model. Ha ha.

I smiled broadly and held back a laugh.

Nam obviously heard and whipped around, glaring at me and covering up her notes.

"Don't laugh," She mouthed to me.

I shook my head and shot her a thumbs up.

Really, her artwork was so realistic, there was no way I could even consider laughing at the way it was drawn.

The _person_ she draws, however...

I covered my mouth to swallow another fit of laughter and looked up at the clock. Thirty minutes left of class. Bummer.

I didn't feel like there was anything I could do. I didn't need to study, I couldn't seem to draw anything but onions with faces at the moment, and Nam refused to pass notes with me. Ugh. So bored.

Once again, I snuck a sneak peek down on Namine's end of the table to try and see her sketch of Roxas. It was already done, and she'd moved onto another thing. I couldn't tell what it was.

I tried to move the notebook closer so I could get a better angle on it, but Namine yanked it away, sticking out her tongue.

Oh, it's on, girl.

I grabbed her notebook firmly and we ended up in a small, low-key game of tug-of-war at our table, me trying to see the picture and Nam constantly pulling it back.

"KOIZUMI!" I heard the teachers voice suddenly rise, and I froze immediately. Damn.

"Y-yes?"

"To the office, NOW!"

Even though I got pretty good grades in Science - I could maintain a middle A to an A minus - the teacher apparently REALLY didn't like me. I had a sneaking feeling of it all year, but not even blaming Namine for any of our little... battle... totally proved it.

I pushed my chair back and, only slightly peeved, gathered my books to leave. Namine glanced at me guiltily and waved as I walked out the door.

I had to walk across the campus to the office building. Sigh.

Luckily it was a pretty day outside and I didn't mind walking. I went across a parking lot towards a the red brick building - that I'd been to so many times... - stepping over a pothole in the pavement and across a lawn.

The sun blared high in the sky, beating down on my black hair and making me feel especially hot. It was probably about noon, the only time it was completely miserable to walk on campus.

I checked my watch, having to shift my books to one side to see. Yup. 12:05. 21 minutes before Physical Science is over, and 21 minutes I have to wait in the office.

Right before I silently opened the door to the building someone tapped my shoulder.

"ID, please?" It was one of the beefy security guards who roamed the campus, randomly asking students for their student cards. I didn't know why they paid him to do such a job... but... I never thought much about it. I recognized this one as Lexaeus. The most famous of them all.

"Uh, of course..." I shifted my books awkwardly to one side, then the other, digging in my pockets to find the small laminated card. When I did I handed it to him.

He barely looked at it.

"You're clear," He said, walking away. I struggled to put my ID back in my pocket and walk into the office.

The brittle old lady there didn't even pass me a second glance when I entered.

I sat down in a chair and put all my books on the one next to me. And I just... waited.

Yup, that's it. I didn't think much. I just waited.

It was very boring, but I didn't h ave anything to think about. I _could, _of course, have thought of Riku, and how we held hands. Technically.

Or how Roxas and Namine might get together. Again, I almost let out a happy squeak. But didn't this time. Whew.

The minutes ticked by. I knew this was happening because, on the high left wall, there was a black and white clock that I couldn't help but stare at the entire time. And also, the brittle office lady typing on her computer nonstop created more tapping still.

Tick tick tick tick tick...

!

My eyes flew open wide as the bell went off, making me realize my eyes had been half closed. Yikes. It seemed especially loud in this room.

Butttt, happily, this meant that it was lunchtime and my wait was finally over. I stood up and _ran_ outside, toting my books and running all the way to my locker in the English ((A/N is that where her locker is? I forget.)) building to dump them off. When I went to grab my cool foamy lunchbox...

It wasn't there.

SHOOT! Well... at least I maybe had some money left on my ID card from earlier in the year so I could swipe it in the Cafeteria. I'd just have to go pick up my lunch there and meet late with Nam, Rox and Olette. They'd understand. They know how forgetful I can be.

But...

When I reached in my pocket...

THE CARD WAS GONE!

OH NO!

OH NO OH NO!

OH NOOO!

THIS WAS TERRIBLE! Losing the card was one of the worst things you could do! It was your only identification, and if I got caught without it I could get in SERIOUS trouble!

I clutched my head in despair. I couldn't get lunch, either! This was the worst thing ever!

It probably fell out when I tried to put it back in my pocket. After Lexaeus ID'd me. What if I looked back there...?

Ah, yes! It would probably still be unnoticed on the ground, even though the bell just rang and people are probably crowding the campus like hell. I ran all the way to the front of the office - yes, RAN. ALL the way - all the while weaving through zombie-like people. I felt like I was in the Thriller music video with everyone shuffling around. I was definitely scared enough to be.

When I made it to the office... the card...

It wasn't there. It wasn't ANYWHERE on the ground at all, not in front of the building or nearby or on the way there or on the way to the lunchroom.

Yeah, I walked all the way to the cafeteria, checking the ground to see if the care somehow flew out of it's prior position and landed somewhere along that route.

But it didn't.

I was in huge trouble.

I was only halfway to Rox's, Nam's, Olette's and my meeting place when, through the crowd of people, I saw someone approaching me again. It was the same person... because I remembered the eyes, definitely.

It was Riku.

Whoa, whoa. He must be looking for someone behind me, right? Right? I looked around in confusion, trying to find this person that Riku was aiming to speak to.

But he stopped in front of me, smile on his face.

Jeezum, am I dreaming?

...That was a dorky thing to say.

"Hey, Xion," He said coolly, doing that classic high-school-chick-flick thing where he leans his elbow on the tree next to us ((A/N it's usually done with a locker. Not a tree.)). He was standing just across from me, and I was kind of dumbfounded into silence.

"Uhm... hi."

He looked really worried for a second, and reached into his pocket. "Hey, I figured you'd probably be missing this..."

And he pulled out my ID card.

My face lit up and i snatched it from him immediately.

"OMIGOSH RIKU! Thank you so much! Where'd you find it! I was so worried! I can't believe it!" My worry instantly dried up and I locked the tall silver-haired boy into a _hug_ before I could think. "I can't believe you Riku!"

His face was red as he rubbed his neck. "Well... I found it on the ground and thought you'd be needing it."

I grinned up at him. Dang, was he tall. Taller than me, at least. "Thank you SO MUCH!" I gritted my teeth as I suddenly remembered that it was lunchtime and my friends were waiting. "Oh, but I have to buy lunch. So... I'll see you later I guess. I really owe you one. Seriously."

Looking back, I can't believe I was so hasty and not nervous at all. It was probably because I was so hungry and so relieved.

"W-" Riku began right as I started to walk away. "Xion, wait a sec," He grinned. "Don't just run off on me yet."

I laughed. It sounded like he was trying to convince me not to break up with him or something. "Don't you have a class to get to? I know I need some lunch."

"Yeah, I do," My friend's brother stood up straight, looking right at me. He was smiling. Beaming, almost. "I mean, I was hoping we could talk. Our conversation on Saturday was really cool." And then he chuckled, as if he were bringing up old memories of hilarious things.

Um... how long had we talked for on Saturday? Like three minutes? Maybe two? We didn't really have what I would call a conversation...

Speaking of conversations between me and Riku, this is probably the only actual one we've had... uh... ever. Ever ever. Forever.

"Oh. Uh... I didn't know you found it so... funny."

Riku's chuckle broke out into a full-on laugh. "But that thing about the hornet's nest on top of the rocketship... that was _priceless_."

My blood ran cold as I processed what was going on.

That thing about the rocketship...?

But... that's one of the things I texted Namine about. Saturday night. And I stayed up all night texting her...

...

It was Namine I had been texting, right? ((A/N just goes to show how you never know. ha ha I made a rhyme.))

I could feel the blood rushing to my head. Namine's phone ran out of minutes, and she had to borrow her stepbrother's. She must have given it back to him! OH NO!

It was Riku I was texting that whole time!

I cupped my face in my hands, feeling the heat on my cheeks. "I'm so sorry!" I gasped, looking away awkwardly.

"Wh-wha? Xion, you okay?"

"I thought I was texting NAMINE!"

"What?" Riku looked taken aback for a few seconds, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. "I was _wondering_ why you were getting to friendly! HAHAHAHA you would do that, wouldn't you! HAHAHAHA!"

At first I was even more nervous than before. But then, Riku just standing there and laughing, I kind of started to chuckle too. "And _I_ was wondering why Namine was acting so different!"

Riku grabbed my wrist - making my heart stop - and looked at my watch. "Aw, jeez," He muttered. "I'm gonna be late, I've gotta go across campus. Try to accidentally message me more often, all right?" He smiled at me, then dropped my wrist and ran off.

I was stunned.

He wanted me to message him again.

I skipped off towards Nam, Roxas, and Olette, singing in silent and triumphant victory. Maybe Riku and I could be friends.

* * *

WOO!

Another chapter has been posted!

I was actually originally planning on making this one longer (showing her at lunch, going forward to math class, her in her room texting riku some more ;3) but those parts weren't the main bulk of the story. This bringing-together is. So I'm trying to cut back a little due to fear of this becoming too long and me having to make a part two. *GASP*

Oh the horror!

READ AND REVIEW! Seriously, people, I'm overjoyed when I get reviews. Make me overjoyed. I'll try very hard to answer any questions you have, as long as the question isn't, "What's happening next?" Or, "Why are you so stupid?"

Writing for you guys is really fun, and I like hearing what you think!

SO REVIEW! DO IT!

Time for a cheesy look into the fuuuture...

_WILL the father figure come home soon?_

_WILL Xion even end up studying for finals?_

_WILL Namine end up publicly with Roxas?_

_WILL the other characters come back into the story?_

_AND most of all, ARE Riku and our Heroine going to become ~*friends*~? _(notice the emphasis on friends.)

-Sono ^-^


	8. Chapter 8

Hai thar guys!

Sorry for such a delayed chapter! I feel really bad, but I had a sudden outbreak of business and... blergh. I'm sorry!

The reviews and story alerts continue to come in, so there's hardly anything I can complain about any more. :3

For me, school is coming up fast. Ugh... school. =.=;

But it's unavoidable I guess. It just means I'll probably update even less than what FF XIII delays me already. I won't be able to get on the computer or the PS3 very much at all.

...But hey, that's next week. Enjoy today.

* * *

.

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"Please put down your pencils," My English teacher nodded. The entire class began to murmur among themselves as they stretched their arms and aired out their sweaty palms.

It was Tuesday, the day of the first two finals. One down, one to go.

Like I said before, the English final was a breeze. Luckily that was my strongest subject.

UNfortunately, American Government was next. At least I got some study time in yesterday during class. The math final had been taking up most of my time lately - but it was on Friday, the last day of school. I still continued to overstudy for it as the date got closer. Was there such a thing?

Pence turned to me, wearing a geeky grin. "So, what do you think?"

"Easy peasy," I replied with a gloating smirk. Pence returned the expression.

"Good luck on the grade."

"What, you don't think I did well?"

He held up his hands. "Hey, knowing your track record..."

I smacked my friend on the back of the head, frowning. "WHAT track record, you jerk?"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Sheesh."

We laughed as we gathered up our things. Since it was finals day, we didn't have to tote around anything but some pencils and entertainment for when we finish the test. It was a real refresher from carrying such heavy books for the majority of the year.

Pence, being the huge geek that he is, had a huge pencil case just filled with... pencils, I assumed.

I had finished 'Crash Test Love' since I was reading it a few days ago, and now I was bringing around a novel called 'Gamer Girl'. Jeez, what was up with me and these romantic chick flick novels lately? It's like I was in some sort of weird... anti-Xion universe.

"Good luck on your Social Studies finals," My English teacher nodded, and I waved goodbye as Pence and I stepped out of the L.A building and onto the campus. Today was especially hot. I hated it when I felt really sweaty - and, unluckily for me, the school couldn't afford to air condition more than a few of the buildings. Dang.

I was in for a sweaty day.

Pence glanced at the schedule, which he had mounted on the lid of his pencil case. Geek alert.

"Dang, I'm across campus for this one. See you later, Xion!"

"See ya, Pence."

I didn't like it when the schedule was messed up due to anything. Whether it be a half-day, holiday, or... Finals Day. Like today.

You see, I always ended up losing the rearranged schedule they passed out, and then I'd have to ask someone for directions. And that someone I ask is usually a total jerk, and they end up telling me to go somewhere far away from where I had to be.

i just wasn't the luckiest person in the world. Maybe if I didn't lose the schedule in the first place...

...

Anyway, I wasn't sure which building I was supposed to be in at that point. My pencils and book almost started to feel a little sticky as I searched around in the horribly hot sun.

Today would probably be a good beach day if I didn't have to study when I got home. Gross.

"Hey, Xion, you all right?"

I turned around, my heart skipping a beat, to see Hayner. Who did I expect?

"Ugh, just kind of lost."

"Yeah, you looked it. This late into the year? God, Xion. Get on the ball."

Hayner and I shared a Social Studies class, which meant we were headed to the same room. He was definitely a jerk, but not the kind of jerk that would lead me down the wrong path.

He's a friendly jerk.

Never mix up the two species of jerky people.

"What building are we at right now? Are we late?"

Hayner grabbed my wrist to look at my watch. WOW, is everyone getting into that habit now? "We've got like three minutes to get to the Science Wing. C'mon."

I immediately started running, despite the heat. The Science Building wasn't too far away, but three minutes was kind of a stretch.

See, there's another thing I hated about the Finals Days. It's not like the _Government_ exam was necessarily in the _Social Studies_ wing. They had to fit smaller groups of students into the different buildings to prevent overcrowding, and I hardly ever got one of the lucky schedules that ended up sticking you in the same building more than twice in a row.

When we made it there, I was practically sweating gallons, and Hayner, being one of those sweatier guys, had grossness wafting from every pore in his body.

Where I would have usually sat next to him, I took a seat across the room just to be safe. And to avoid him cheating off me.

I couldn't forget that previous incident in American Government yesterday.

I noticed the very crabby teacher glaring at me before she looked pointedly at the clock. "You two are _late_."

"I'm sorry ma'am..." Late by one minute.

"Yeah, sorry," Hayner echoed, sounding a lot less sorry then me. Oh Gawd, sometimes you just need to be quiet, buddy...

He could get us in trouble.

"I don't want any problems with you two," The teacher growled at us, putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone, you have exactly two periods to finish this test. When i say pencils down, it is PENCILS DOWN. If I see any writing utensil moving, you will get an automatic zero."

Ouch.

A few 'okays' and 'all rights' rippled around the small room - was it getting stuffy already? Or was it just me? - and the teacher stared at the clock. It seemed to me like she was trying to time it perfectly, and let the second hand cross through the 12 before starting. Talk about uptight.

"GO!"

I picked up my pencil and started working. The entire room grew silent, and all you could hear was the graphite scratching.

Sometimes I wondered if I had attention problems. It could be that I'm just really nervous during the tests, but everything seemed to make me look up. And I _always_ constantly looked up on the high left wall to see how much time I had remaining, even though I had a watch on my own hand that I didn't even have to move my head to see.

It seemed like everyone else remembered I had that thing more than I did.

Social Studies wasn't my strongest subject, and I didn't like it, but the whole first section of the test was surprisingly easy and I moved onto the second portion without any doubts. I was on a roll here.

I glanced up halfway through to see if Hayner was struggling, and it looked like he wasn't. But he was sweaty. Maybe it was all the running we did.

Crap, was I sweaty? I had gym next.

I did a quick check of myself to see how I was, before remembering I COULDN'T BE DISTRACTED, and turning my attention back to the test.

x

(- _-)

x

.

~:Riku's POV:~

I rested my head on my hand, glaring out at the room of people. They were still working. I was done.

Ironically, just as I thought this, Kairi got up. She was lining up her papers like a perfectionist.

She walked up and across the room to put them on the teacher's desk, and as she did it I casually stared her down. Kairi.

Kairi wasn't my type. Her boobs were too big in my opinion.

...

Yeah, that's a weird thing to say, coming from a guy like me. But girls with big boobs are always confident. _Too_ confident. When they're smaller, they...

I'm being weird now. What am I, perverted?

_Yes._ A voice spoke from somewhere in my head, making me smirk at myself. This whole time, however, I forgot to stop staring at my best friend's girlfriend.

When she noticed me doing this, she stuck her tongue out at me.

I stuck mine out back.

God, I really am crazy, aren't I?

There were twenty minutes left on the clock - so I started thinking about stuff to do while I waited. It was a bad move not to bring a book or even a scrap piece of paper to doodle on. There was nothing to do... at all.

And that's when I slipped my hand into my pocket and felt at my phone.

...

Texting.

...

Xion.

But phones weren't allowed during the day, except at lunch, on penalty of suspension.

...

Where was she right now?

I kind of freaked myself out right then, because I brought up a mental file cabinet of Xion's schedule.

Well... not literally.

But had I subconsciously been remembering where she went during the day as Sora said things about her? Or Namine? It's not like I ever outrightly asked about her.

For whatever reason, I knew she was taking the Social Studies final. And I knew her teacher too well, also.

My hand tightened on my cell phone as I looked up at the teacher. He was practically falling asleep correcting the exams. Perfect.

I whipped out the device and typed up a message... feeling content once I pressed my thumb down on the "send" button and returned it to the place in my pocket.

x

(T ^T)

x

.

.:Xion's POV:.

"There," I muttered to myself, scribbling down the final word onto the written essay portion of the test. I quickly skimmed over the page before walking up to the desk to turn it in.

Yeah, yeah, I know they tell you to carefully review the test, but... I never had the patience. It just felt like the same stuff all over again. Maybe that was another reason for my average grades.

My mom and dad always insisted I had tons of potential.

I glanced up at the clock, forgetting I had a watch again. Ten more minutes.

Right as I silently slipped the packet of paper onto Miss Crabby Teacher's desk, I felt my phone vibrate in my back jeans pocket. In the total and complete silence of the room, it felt like someone just dropped a bomb.

My teeth clenched as I looked around at everyone, especially the teacher, to see if they noticed.

But nobody did.

I plopped back into my desk to see who in their right mind would send me a message during school hours.

**Hey there, gurl. You done that test yet?**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

My heart throbbed.

Riku was messaging me? It felt weird.

It felt weird because, as strange as this sounds, Riku was Sora's friend, and Namine was mine. It had always been that way, since... well, forever. Riku and I had never been friends, but now he was acting like we'd been close for a while.

...What am I talking about? It's just a text.

I played along and acted like it didn't matter, like he was.

**Just finished. You crazy? Wanna get your  
phone taken away or something? We'll both  
get in trubs. **

**From: Me**

**To: Riku **

I actually found myself anxiously waiting for the next message, tapping my finger on the desk. There wasn't much longer left to class.

I noticed Hayner looking at my like I was completely looneytunes, also.

Texting during the "no-texting" time. Maybe I was.

My phone vibrated. And it didn't sound as loud this time.

**You're in Am-Gov't? Look around right now.  
Bet you ten bucks at least two other people  
are texting and Ms. J hasn't even noticed.**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I glanced around the room warily before sending my next message.

...

It was true. A kid with red hair behind me was texting. And a girl with black hair was messing with her phone playing Tetris. And then a couple more people after them where messaging on their phones, too!

...And here I thought Mrs. Jay ((A/N spontaneous teacher name! Bam!)) was really strict. She was a lot more unobservant that I thought.

**Glad we never shook on that bet. XD  
You've had her? I can't stand the woman,  
personally. Why'd you text me, anyway?**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

I leaned back in my chair with a yawn, resisting the urge to prop my feet onto the desk. Only two or three more minutes...

Until gym.

If gym counted as an actual subject in my book, it would definitely be my least favorite.

My cell vibrated, and I jumped. THAT seemed REALLY loud... yet nobody looked. Still. Zombies.

**I was bored. And wondering how you were ;3  
You're the only person in my contacts that isn't  
actually in the room with me right now.**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I almost laughed out loud reading Riku's message.

It was weird, but reading his words made it feel like he was actually there. His writing was really vivid, even though it didn't seem any different from anyone else's.

Strange.

I started to reply with another message just as the loud, annoying voice of the teacher yelled, "PENCILS DOWN!"

I hid my phone under the desk for a few seconds, and when she turned away I quickly typed up a text and pressed 'send'.

**Bored, huh? And wondering how I am? That's  
very gentlemanly of you. ._.  
I've got Gym next and the bell just went off,  
so I should go.**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku **

People who didn't finish were putting their tests on Mrs. Jay's desk, and some were trying to scribble down last minute answers without getting caught. The room, that was so quiet before, seemed to be filled with the noise of rustling papers and squeaking chairs. It was really loud in comparison to before.

Hayner, who had apparently cooled off since we had to run all the way here earlier, walked over to me with a confident expression on his face. "I totally aced that," He smirked.

"You did, did you?" I chuckled in reply as we walked out the door and down the hallway towards the outdoor campus. He nodded.

"Yep. Completely aced. Almost too easy. How'd you do?"

"Fine, I guess." I had my doubts on a few questions - like when I had to name which presidents were elected in which years - but I felt pretty much solid on it. Maybe an A minus.

When we were outside, Hayner already starting to sweat once more, I waved him goodbye. He returned the gesture. "I've got art right now soo, see you later."

"Yup," I said. "Gym here. See you."

At least I didn't need directions this time. The gym was one of the biggest buildings, because it wasn't just a single basketball-court-sized room. There were six hardwood-floored basketball courts inside it, side by side.

This, though, made it able to fit an extra amount of students and they merged some of the grades and classes together. Sora and Kairi were in my Gym class - they were a lot better at it than me - along with Roxas - who was _also_ a lot better at it than me.

Well, as long as they were there. Better than a lot of people I don't know being better at it than me.

It was a lot easier to just _walk_ under the unbearably hot sun, and just as I started to see the gym in sight I noticed Roxas and Namine a little it ahead of me. I shifted my pencils and book into one hand and waved.

"Roxas! Nam!" I fast-walked - hey, it was still walking - over up behind them and touched their shoulders. "You coming to Gym with me?" I directed this question to Roxas, noticing he looked kind of flustered.

"Yeah, that's right." He wiped his hand on his shirt. Um.. okay.

"I've gotta go to art," Namine said, frowning. "Soooo, Xion! How do you think you did? Was the S.S final hard?"

"English was a breeze," I grinned. "I guess Government was okay. I dunno on that one."

"Well," Namine chuckled, tugging at her skirt. She did this when she got excited. "I just had the coolest idea. Maybe, I can have a studying-sleepover party at my house! Eh? How cool would that be?"

At... her house? A sleepover?

"Would the boys come?" I questioned skeptically.

"Well, yeah, but they can't like... sleep over," We both laughed, and Roxas crossed his arms as Namine went on. "Yeah, my mom wouldn't let us do that. Well, except for Riku. Cuz. You know. He lives at my house." She laughed again. I may have blushed, I'm not sure.

"I have a feeling not a lot of studying will take place here," I smiled, making Nam shrug.

"Whatever. Bring your books. But _also_ bring Final Fantasy Thirteen, which will be the priority. Roxas told me you bought it, and I don't have it yet."

We were at the Gym now, and Roxas had to break us up. "Okay, okay, girls," He joked. "Take a break for just one period. You can talk at lunch."

Nam pouted, also jokingly. "Fine. See you, Rox."

Only when they broke apart I realized that they'd been holding hands almost that whole time. Were they serious now, or what? Was it a secret? I'd have to ask one of them later.

Right now didn't seem like the time.

"You ready?" My cousin grinned.

"Not for Gym. Never for Gym." We walked into the building, feeling the wonderful, WONDERFUL air conditioning. That was one upside.

I saw Kairi and Sora, already heading for the changing rooms. Kairi turned to wave enthusiastically at me, and I waved back.

"See you back here in a minute," Roxas said to me, heading for the boys' changing room. I followed Kairi into the girls'.

I grabbed my gym clothes from my locker and started changing next to my brother's girlfriend. Were we friends?

...Yeah, we were. I'd known her for as long as Sora did.

Kairi took a look at my baggy jeans and shook her head. "Xion," She chuckled. "Why do you always wear such baggy clothes?"

"I dunno, I like them," I replied, concentrating on folding my normal pants and shirt up. Yeah, I did that. Didn't want to lose them.

"Maybe we could all go shopping to get you new clothing..." She seemed to be brewing something up in her head. I flailed my hands around to stop the process.

"WHOAA, no no no! That won't be necessary!"

"I just think you'd look good in a pair of these," She held up her own skinny jeans, smiling at me.

I slipped on my gym shorts. "No, no, it's fine."

"I just want you to try on a pair. But these are too big for you. We should go to the store the day after school gets out!" And then she clapped her hands excitedly, like this was a new scientific breakthrough. "It'll be fun. You don't have to choose on anything or buy anything either! C'mon, pleeease!"

I hesitated. Something told me this would somehow become more than just Kairi and I shopping together. With her, it always turned out to be some big ordeal.

But... "F-fine," I muttered, putting my shirt on with an annoyed grunt.

"AWESOME! OKAY! I need to plan it. You don't have to do a thing, missy!"

"Okay."

"C'mon, let's go out," She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the gym, me only sort of struggling.

"Wait, I should take of my watch- oh, never mind." It was fine. I usually took it off but... it's not like I really needed to.

"ALL RIGHT!" The gym teacher yelled. He had to yell because his voice was typically very quiet, and the gym was very big. Yeah, a gym teacher with a quiet voice. Weird, I know.

Everyone turned around to look at him, and I noticed Roxas and Sora coming out from the changing room.

"Today is a free day. After a quick warm up, you can use what you want. We've got basketballs here, and a smaller volleyball net set up on court one."

Everyone immediately began to stretch. Roxas and Sora ran up to Kairi and me.

"I'm gonna play Basketball," Roxas said, looking at us. "Wanna do it with me?"

"HEYY I was gonna play basketball!" Sora snapped, while stretching his arm. Kairi, who was actually very flexible, leaned down to touch her toes. Her ponytail flipped over.

"You guys can just both play head-to-head," She was always trying to provoke those guys. "I can be on Sora's team. Xion, you can be on Roxas's." I could almost see her sarcastic smile - Except she was upside down, stretching.

I'm horrible at basketball and about every other sport that exists. Except maaaaybe volleyball. I can serve pretty well.

Either way, I was terrified of orange balls ever since the fifth grade when a basketball hit me right on top of my head. I still think I'm kind of flat there sometimes - and just to say, it hurts a lot more than you think. The rubber is pretty hard.

But, to my understanding, Kairi wasn't so good at it either.

It would be like a two man show, Roxas against Sora.

"FINE!" Sora grinned broadly. "Wonder who's gonna WIN this one."

"Hmm, yeah, me too," Roxas said sarcastically as he stretched his legs. "May the best man win."

"I guess that rules you out," Sora retorted. "Since you aren't a man."

"WHAT did you just say? I should-"

"Calm down you guys," I said, tapping my brother on the back of the head. "Let the court decide."

"Good luck Sora!" Kairi said, probably trying to sound sexy. It worked.

Sora looked kind of like Popeye after he ate the spinach - even though in reality Sora despises spinach. But whatever.

My brother grinned like a big... goofy... grinning thing ((A/N no analogy for that.)), and ran over to grab an orange ball. "All right, it's ON!"

And then we were playing. I kind of stood in the corner and watched as Roxas and Sora duked it out. Kairi was somehow involved in there too, but she wasn't doing much. Neither was I, but, hey, at least Kairi was trying, right?

Roxas was at the corner of the court, being completely blocked by Sora, with Kairi right behind him cheering on the game. "Xion! You got this one!" My cousin yelled, tossing me the ball.

I kind of flinched, initially. Yeah, it was because of the incident in fifth grade. But, since I was standing right near the basket, I figured that I could actually b e of some help and I reached up my arms to catch the ball... and...

CRACK!

It hit my wrist. Really hard. Really REALLY hard. "OW!" I yelled, letting the ball bounce and roll away.

Sora immediately took off after it. "Stay open, Kairi!" He yelled, ignoring me.

"Gawd, Sora, can't you see your sister's hurt?" Kairi pouted, walking over to me. Roxas followed her, looking guilty.

"Augh, did I hurt you?" He frowned.

I looked at my wrist, which was still hurting. _And_ the old watch on that wrist had a huge crack right on the screen. The time read 0:00 00. Yeah, that sounds about right. NOT.

Well, at least it wasn't expensive. Not that much, at least. "You hurt my watch," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I didn't want him feeling guilty.

Sora poked his head out from behind our cousin.

"Dude, you okay?"

"Don't call me dude," I snapped. It wasn't a universal gender term.

Kairi, who looked more worried than everyone else combined, blinked at me. "Xion, take off your watch."

Wow, I know, this is a weird thing to think, but I almost couldn't bear to remove it. I hadn't taken it off since I bought it two summers ago on the boardwalk. But I took it off anyway.

Kairi took my wrist between her forefinger and thumb. "Tell me if this hurts."

She gently pushed,a nd I felt a spike of pain go through my entire arm.

"OW! OW OW OW! I mean... YES! OW!"

Everyone cringed.

"We should tell the gym teacher. Or the nurse. Or somebody," Roxas muttered, rubbing his neck. He felt guilty. I could tell.

"Roxas, it's _fine._" I assured. "It was my fault for not paying attention."

"But if I threw it better..."

"NO, your toss was fine. Calm down."

Kairi dragged me over to the Phys Ed instructor, who sent me to the nurse immediately, with Roxas.

Bummer.

Did this mean I'd have to wear a cast or something?

* * *

Okay guys! For taking so long to update, I have given you the longest chapter yet. XD

...okay so maybe that was an accident. But I couldn't just leave you guys hanging saying she had gym class next and just cut it off there.

And Xion's famous watch breaking is a really crucial part of the story.

I'm sorry if the writing style is weird near the end - I'm self conscious of that stuff, okay? - but I was really mad at my brother (and I still am. *angry*) when I wrote that. He's like... more annoying than the Sora of this story. *crosses arms*

He mooched off my computer all day so far, then he made me do the huge mound of dishes, spilled ice cream on my notebook, and he's complaining that he still needs to use my computer. And prevent me from updating. D: He's 16. What, did you think he was seven? Sometimes I do. :|

I'm sorry, I really shouldn't complain. *cools off* Ahh, ooh, ahh, ohh... I'm not watching fireworks, I'm breathing.

Time for the lousy Narrative that I actually enjoy doing very much.

.

_WILL Xion get a new watch?_

_WILL Roxas and Namine become serious?_

_WILL Riku text Xion more often?_

_WILL Namine have that "study party"?_

_WILL Kairi take Xion shopping?_

_AND most of all, WHERE THE HECK IS AXEL!_

_(Seriously) I mean, uhm.. *cough* _(Seriously, have I just been forgetting to put him in there or is there a reason?)

-Sono ^-^

P.S I FORGOT TO NAG YOU TO READ AND REVIEW! DO IT! READ AND REVIEW! I really like it when you do. :3


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, before I go in and start writing this chapter-

I won't update unless I get reviews from everyone! So I'm going to write this, because I know I'm going to like this chapter (he he), but wait until I get the right number of reviews before posting it. :V

Sorry.

Oh, yes, I'm doing this to practice my writing, of course. So maybe you could tell me if you find something wrong in the story, also. Thanks people. :3

Oh! Oh! Right! Something else.

In the future, I may begin to dedicate chapters to songs that relate to the chapters. I suggest you listen to these songs. They might go along well while reading, who knows? :D

Also... -=WARNING=-

THIS CHAPTER MAY CONTAIN FINAL FANTASY XIII SPOILERS. MINOR, EARLY SPOILERS. But spoilers nonetheless, eh? I'm not that far yet, so shush. Xion plays the game and events happen in it, soo... *nods*

Read on.

* * *

.

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"Hummmm," I leaned back into the cushy chair, hugging my knees to my chest and tapping away at my Nintendo DS. No, it wasn't a fancy new DSi, or even a lesser, lower-leveled DS lite. There I was thinking I was in the loop, buying the newest game system, and they come out with a better version of it a month later that I didn't have enough money to buy. Go figure.

It was Wednesday. For some reason, during the final week - it has a duel meaning. Final week of school, the week of the finals - they cut out Wednesday as a free day to allow kids to cram the last bits of information into their heads before taking the last few tests. Speaking of which, I was one of the kids that should be doing that.

For math.

I _really_ needed to study for math.

But it was only 8am, which was pretty early for me. I wasn't anywhere close to an early riser - like Sora - but getting up early for my first year of high school really got me into the routine of waking at a decent time. Ish.

The summer was_ definitely _going to change that.

I was still in my blue and black striped PJ's, sporting some bedhead, when Sora came down from upstairs. He was completely dressed - even if his hair was out of place a little.

"AUUGH stupid Nosepass!" I snapped, yelling at the characters on my Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game.

"Why are you even playing that?" Sora questioned, glancing at me from the corner of his eye as he opened the freezer. "You know all of the games are exactly the same just with different names."

"It's fun!" I muttered, jabbing at the controls. My brother snorted.

"You don't sound like you're having fun." He, like a lot of other people, just didn't understand. Sure, pokemon was for kids. The show was a little juvenile. But the games were fun to play, so what was wrong with that? Roxas, however, understood this, and we'd done so many Pokemon battles it was crazy. That was, until he got the cheat codes for his game and could beat me by a landslide.

I like doing it the old fashioned way.

Hard, bitter work.

Sora pawed through the refrigerator, then perked up like he had just remembered something.

"OH! Right! Xion, I got an email."

"What'd it say?" Him bringing it up obviously meant it was something important.

"Dad's coming home tomorrow night."

I jumped. It had been a while since dad was here. It was actually really good news.

Sometimes, even though I was used to it, living without a parent and just Sora felt a little weird. Like we were some sort of messed up family.

But... we weren't.

Mom and Dad weren't divorced, they just lived in two separate places thanks to their jobs. It sounds like a really dumb plan to me - uhm, hello? You've got kids to worry about - but they told Sora and me that they were really happy with the work they had, and that was the only solution they could think of.

We visited our Mom in Hollow Bastion sometimes, but the ride was pretty long and by the time we got there we usually just ended up giving mom and dad some space to mingle. ((A/N ...o3o "mingle"))

"That's... that's really good," I said quietly, looking back down at my game. Sora nodded.

"Yeah, I guess."

The room filled with the silence of a rustling plastic waffle bag and me tapping on the screen of my DS.

I hadn't had breakfast yet. Maybe I should get on that - because aside from being my favorite meal, I'm totally dead all day if I don't have anything in the morning. Even if it's just brunch. I can't take it if it isn't breakfast.

"OH!" Sora gasped, jamming his waffles down into the toaster. My head shot up.

"Jeez, what? You scared me!"

"I got another email. This morning."

I glared at Sora, waiting for him to go on. "Yes, and?"

"Namine says we'd better have our butts at her house by nine. And bring Final Fantasy."

I shut off my DS and sprung out of the chair. "GAWD, Sora! It's 8:15! Why didn't you tell me sooner!"

"I forgot."

"Well we both have to pack! It's a sleepover, remember! And I need to get dressed, and... do my hair... and..."

"Hold up. It's a sleepover for _you_," My brother frowned, crossing his arms, then uncrossing them to butter his waffles as they popped up. "Even though Kairi's gonna be there, I can't stay, remember? _Girls only_." He went on in a mocking tone. I scoffed.

"You don't have to be so bitter about it. You see Kairi _how_ often? All day, 24/7?"

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

I ran up the stairs - only touching every other stair, as usual - and swung my door open to the mess that was supposedly my room. I had recently re-arranged all the drawers in it to be really neat, but everything else... wasn't. Whatever.

I threw some cool looking outfits into my "SPCA" bag, then moved onto the bathroom to get my toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, deodorant...

It was like a mundane routine, getting packed for a sleepover at Nam's. I'd been over her house more than I'd been over anyone else's.

Except my own house. Duh.

I hopped back into my room to get my stuffed animal. YES, I still had one. A few, actually, but my favorite was Darth Panda, aka Pandakin. I made him at build-a-bear with Namine at the mall where she got her fish, and we gave him a Darth Vader outfit. It was cute for a while, but eventually started getting annoying to hug so we took it off.

Therefore, gaining him the alter ego, "Pandakin."

Adorable, right?

No? Well he is. He was beginning to harbor a new love for pandas inside me.

Just in case, I also shoved "Gamer Girl", my notebook, and a small package of pencils into the bag.

And that's when my phone went off, its obnoxious buzz extra loud due to it being on top of the medal box I keep on my desk. Medal+vibrate=really loud.

I picked it up to view this message:

**You coming yet? Almost everyone is here...  
Nam says to remind you to bring FFXIII.  
**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

Jeez, everyone's just obsessing over that game, aren't they? Well... the reminder was well-needed. Because I almost forgot.

Before replying to Riku I moved on into the game room, ejected Final Fantasy from my PS3 and put it in its case before adding it to the contents of the bag. Carefully.

**I'm about to leave. Thanks for reminding  
me, too. I'll be at your house in a few.**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

I hardly even realized that I hardly even realized that Riku and I were suddenly being nonchalant ((A/N LOLsentence.)). It didn't mean much to me then, actually, but it was just the start of what was to come. If that sounds ominous enough.

"You ready Sora?" I called downstairs, just gathering up my pillow. I started to dig through my closet for a sleeping bag.

"'MM EATIN!" I heard my brother call back to me obnoxiously. His mouth was full of food. Gross.

"Okay, jeez! Hurry up and finish!"

I quickly dug through my blankets to grab my iPod - couldn't forget it - and finally headed downstairs with a fleeting glance at my wrist.

_Only_ to discover that my watch wasn't there. It broke yesterday in gym. SHOOT. I relied on that thing sometimes!

I'd have to get a new one STAT.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and slipped into my flip flops before heading to the door. "I'm gonna go without you, Sora!"

"WAIIT!" He called, and appeared behind me, pulling on a black sock. "Let me get my sneakers on! Gimme a sec! Jeez!"

"I'm goooooinnngggg..."

"NOOO!"

I laughed as I took off outside into the sun, Sora stumbling after. He quickly overtook me, snagging the lead, though. He was way faster than I'll ever be.

x

(. -.?)

x

.

~:Riku's POV:~

I shut my phone and leaned back against the couch, laying my head against the cushion. Everyone stared at me expectantly.

"What?" I muttered irritably.

"Is she coming?" Nam grinned, angling her head towards me. She and Roxas and Kairi were in the middle of a game of "Ninja", something where you went in a circle trying to hit the hand of the person next to you with one fluid motion. Your hand gets hit, you're out. I always won, so they kicked me out of their tournament.

I let out a breath. "Yeah, she should be here in a few."

"OMG!" Kairi giggled. She was totally ecstatic. "That means Sora's coming! I hope everyone else can make it too."

Namine frowned, plopping onto the ground. That obviously meant the game was over. "Axel said he couldn't make it," A murmur of disappointment rippled among the small group, me excluded. Not that I didn't like Axel, of course. "Probably something about college. He's really stressed about it I bet."

Silence spread through the room.

Roxas coughed. "So should we study or what? Xion's on her way, right? Then we'll just be playing Final Fantasy."

"Let's go to the game room!" Kairi gasped, tapping her cheek. She's always just too excited. At that point the doorbell rang, though, making _everyone_ in the room just as excited as Kairi. Even me.

It felt like my stomach was doing flips at the thought of seeing Xion.

"I'LL BEAT YOU TO THE DOOR!" Roxas yelled above everyone else, scrambling to his feet. It seemed he forgot that nobody there was as competitive as Sora - So he was the only one to make it to the door to open it.

"Hey, I'm not too late, am I?" the voice of Hayner said.

Nam, Kairi, and I slumped.

"Nah, Xion's on her way still," My half-sister replied, standing up slowly. "We were about to go down to the game room to hang and wait. Maybe study."

"Cool," Hayner stepped through the doorway, followed by Olette and Pence, who waved. The two groups conversed for a bit, but I kind of melted into the background, one hand gripping my cell phone in my pocket.

"Let's go!" Kairi smiled, leading the group to the basement. Namine stayed behind for a few seconds to glance at me and shoot me a reassuring smile.

I shrugged, stood up, and stretched - just to give her the message, "I'm okay. God, don't worry over me all the time." She got it and ran downstairs after the others.

"Tell me if you need anything!" I heard my mom call from upstairs.

"All right!" Namine yelled back up before shutting the door to the stairwell.

I was about to follow them - couldn't just sit up here the whole time. I still had some studying to get done - when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I whipped it out in under a second. Xion?

But no. It was a call from an unknown number. I picked up. Of course I picked up.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver. Skepticism seeped from the word.

"Why sound so suspicious, Riku?" A familiar voice on the other line said. My blood ran cold - yet the feeling wasn't completely new.

I drifted into the kitchen to avoid being heard before speaking, wetting my lips. "What is it?"

"Jeezus, man, always quick to get to the point. Just wondering where you were."

"Where are you even calling from?"

"Payphone. It's been forever since you've been over here. When are you coming around again?"

"I don't know." I suddenly felt like making this conversation as fast as possible. I just... wanted it over with.

"How about you come tonight?"

"No."

"Suddenly you seem so... reluctant."

A wave a hate ran through me - but deeper down, something more like... desire? Okay, that officially sounds gross.

"I'm busy tonight."

Some silence followed on the other end.

"Hey, fine with me." Click. They hung up.

I practically crushed my phone when I pressed the "end" button, shoving it into my pocket. I didn't need him.

I was already in the kitchen, so I quietly opened the cupboard and took out my jar of meds, taking a much-needed two of them with some water.

What was I supposed to do? Sometimes you just feel like you have to get rid of the want... but it's too strong and you just... can't.

I covered my face with my hands for a few seconds to clear my head - when the doorbell rang for the second time that morning.

Namine probably didn't hear it, so I headed over and opened it up.

x

(. 3.;)

x

.

.:Xion's POV:.

The door opened to reveal a pretty dead-looking Riku.

Sora pushed ahead of me. "Someone didn't get enough sleep last night," He chuckled, going right into the house. Riku laughed, grinning back at my brother.

"Namine wouldn't shut up about this whole sleepover thing until 1am." He looked at me then, blinking. My heart skipped a beat. "Hey, you need help?" Before I could even reply he took my pillow and sleeping bag. "Everyone's downstairs in the game room. I was just about to go, actually."

I followed him and Sora inside - and they immediately led me through the dark stairwell to their awesome game room.

Namine and I had spent hours here. It was a carpeted room with white walls, but the entire place had more than enough fun in it to make up for the lack of coloring. There was a pretty big TV on one side, with a couch and a few bean bag chairs to play video games or watch shows on. They had a ping pong table, too, along with a bar that we never used - obviously - but was fun to sit on.

Namine ran up to give me a hug. "XION! You made it!"

"Looks like you hired a butler," Pence grinned, crunching on a cracker. Riku tossed my pillow in his face.

"Hey, no cracker on my pillow!" I snapped, breaking out into laughter afterwards. Namine dragged me onto the couch eagerly.

"OKAY! Time for the main event of the night!" She said, clapping.

"And that would be...?" Sora questioned, unimpressed.

"FINAL FANTASY!" Kairi squealed. She took Sora by the wrist and sat him down next to her.

"The player gets the beanbag chair!" Olette declared, pushing the red bag of beans ((A/N lol)) in my direction. I raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? Me? I've played some of it already, though, I shouldn't be the one to-"

"Oh, quiet. It's fun to watch, right?" Namine sounded really excited. "We can switch off if we have to. And anyone who doesn't wanna watch can go play ping pong or something."

"Or maybe they could actually study," Hayner suggested jokingly. A chorus of "PSHH"es and "HAH"s arose from my friends. I laughed.

"Okay, okay, sure. Everyone..." I inserted a dramatic pause for effect. "We must dim the lights."

Pence reached over and switched on the PS3 and put in the disk, and everyone began to watch the intro, once I started a new game and went through the title screen.

Kairi leaned close to Sora's ear. "I read there's a really hot guy in this one."

"You've said that for all of the games!" Sora protested, arching his head away from his girlfriend's. He was obviously upset she thought someone other than him was hot.

"SHH!" Namine shushed. She was clearly very into this, more than everyone else combined. Even me. And I was huge on this stuff.

"Jeez, Nam, calm down," Riku chuckled.

"Oh, oh!" I grinned. "There's Hope!"

He and Snow tied for my favorite characters... mostly because it made me giggle when Hope's voice cracked and because he was wicked cute.

_Hey,_ everyone's got a little bit of fangirl in them, right? Couldn't deny that.

Namine was sitting closely next to Roxas, Sora was sitting closely next to Kairi...

Even with all the affection in the room with the dimmed lights, I was hardly playing any attention to what I probably would have been wondering about usually. Like... whether everyone else knew about Namine and Roxas. Everyone but Axel was here - where was he, by the way? - so coming out with it now would be the perfect time. As if it wasn't obvious enough already.

I guess that day I just seemed... distracted. And it wasn't just because I was playing a video game with everyone watching me.

It was something else... But I couldn't put my finger on what.

Well, regardless, that's how the party at Namine's began.

x

(-)

x

"Huhhh..." Kairi muttered to herself, clinging to Sora. He was laying back and looking very pleased with himself, actually. Okay, okay. Everyone knows you've got a girlfriend. Jeez.

"What is it?" Riku muttered, glancing back to see the ping pong match between Hayner and Pence.

"Hope is _very_ cute."

We'd been at it for hours, taking a couple breaks and switching off with the controller. It was Namine's turn to be playing, so I looked back at Kairi and slapped my hand on the beanbag chair. "Exactly!"

Sora looked a little taken aback - and Riku cocked an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Namine didn't take her eyes off the screen, but she replied. "He just is. I mean, look at him."

Kairi nodded. "I'd hit that."

"_What_?" Sora demanded. "What's so great about him?"

"Maybe it's the hair," I shrugged. "Or something."

Riku glanced at me from the corner of his eye, probably jokingly trying to be seductive. "So you're saying I should spike my hair now?"

I didn't get it. "Only if you wanna steal Kairi away from Sora."

"Don't even think about it," My brother scowled, making Hayner laugh and miss a ping pong shot.

"Maybe you both would get all the girls you wanted if you just took a few lessons from the Hopemiester."

Sora gestured wildly to his head, scoffing. "You're saying my hair isn't spiky enough as it is!"

"What you need," Roxas cut it, modeling his own haircut, "Is a more subtle approach." He'd been sitting next to Namine almost the entire time. Their feet were touching.

"Oh, look who's talking," Pence said from the ping pong table. "Mr. Single."

My cousin's cheeks flushed red and he looked down to hide it.

"Okay, okay, guys," I chuckled, calming everyone down. "He's not real. This isn't a contest."

"Everything's a contest," My brother argued, just to bother me. I shot him an angry look.

"What's the time?" Olette suddenly asked. She was laying on the floor, glancing between the games of table tennis and Final Fantasy.

A short silence ensued - so Riku reached down and took my wrist in his hand. It felt like I just got zapped by electricity.

His eyes narrowed, and he picked up my other wrist. What was he doing...?

OH YEAH! My watch!

"Where's your watch?" Riku questioned, looking at me as if I removed my toe instead of my timepiece.

I frowned. "It broke in Gym."

"Sorry about that, Xion," Roxas mumbled, just starting to fight over the controller with Namine. "C'mon, Nami, leggo!"

"Leggo my Eggo," Sora muttered absentmindedly. It wasn't uncommon for him to say things like this.

"Uhm... what about the time?" Olette cut in again. Namine, who finally surrendered the game to Roxas, leaned over to Riku and took his phone out to check.

"12:45."

"AUUGHHH ALMOST FOUR HOURSS!" Hayner groaned. He and Pence were probably on their fourth or fifth consecutive game. The table almost had dents worn into it.

I stood up, feeling like I had to be the responsible one. "I think I should actually study a little. Anyone wanna help?"

Nobody said anything. Go figure.

"FINE," I scoffed. "But I've gotta study math so you guys don't be too loud. I'm gonna go up and get Namine's book."

We had the same class, after all, so therefore the same book.

Yeah, I "forgot" to bring mine. Wayyy too heavy.

I headed up the stairs.

Studying would probably be next to impossible, thanks to me being distracted for pretty much the entire day. What _was_ it? Well, either way, I had to make sure I knew every math formula. I couldn't get below an 85 on this test or I would be DOOMED. DOOMED TO A DEMISE OF TERROR.

Not literally. Almost.

I trotted up the stairs into Namine's - very clean - room, finding her book on her bed. I grabbed it, and went into her closet for some paper to write on. As I went back outside her room and shut the door, I paused to look at Riku's door.

I'd always _loved_ Riku's room. When I was younger - and to be honest, now - it was always too scary to actually GO INTO. Stuff was always EVERYWHERE. I'd overheard him tell Sora that he was "instructed to clean his room", and the end result was something along the lines of the entire space being coated in... just... _stuff_. That was his version of a clean room.

It always seemed at first glance that nothing in there had any rhyme or reason, so I'd never been inside. But the outside made me laugh every time. There was a yellow sign on the door that was made to look like one of those signs you see outside a bathroom that said "MEN" on it in capital letters.

Apparently both Namine, me, and any other GIRL was banned from his room for that reason. He's never outrightly said it, of course, but it just seemed that way.

Even now, as I passed it by, I chuckled to myself.

Like I may have mentioned, I'd been over Nam's house so much I knew the place inside and out, backwards and forwards.

How I knew where to find the paper and the book.

I made my way downstairs, took a stop into the kitchen to get a drink of water from their fridge, and _finally_ found myself ready to go downstairs to study. As I opened the door to the stairwell, I noticed that the lights were off. I figured someone was about to play a prank on me.

So I almost yelled at them to turn on the lights.

But, I decided not to and opened the door.

Nobody was around the corner about to jump on me. Huh. Weird.

I went down the stairs to see the only source of light coming from the television - and everyone... and I mean _everyone..._ was just... glued to it. I could see there was a really important cutscene going on.

Namine probably told everyone to shut up and turn off the lights like an obsessive jerk. Well, _I_ would. I didn't blame her.

Strangely enough, whatever happened in these games was important to some people. Roxas, for an example other than Namine. And Sora. And maybe even Kairi.

Riku, I wasn't sure.

Whatever. I made it to the bottom of the stairs and sat on the floor in front of the couch, to see it was the scene where Snow proposes to Serah. The one where they kiss.

Even if Nam didn't know what was about to happen, she could probably guess, and was leaning close into Roxas with anticipation.

Suddenly, then, it seemed like everyone divided into their own little groups. It's hard to explain.

It had never happened before... because... I always thought of all of my friends as just one sort of... clan. We spent equal time with each other and never seemed separate. When we were together, everyone had fun with everyone.

But... it started Roxas's arm wrapped around Namine's shoulders, pulling her close. They became a pair nobody could intervene with.

I gripped the Algebra book and glanced back at my brother to see that he and Kairi's lips were touching, just a little. Her hand was sliding up his shirt.

I looked away politely. Well, add romantic scene + dark room + Kairi and Sora...

You got something goin' on there. Obviously they were together, and nobody was breaking into that group.

I could faintly see Hayner, Pence, and Olette by the ping pong table. Olette looked like she was... grabbing Hayner's hand? Arm? Or something? I wasn't sure. Pence was in between the two of them, with his elbows on their shoulders, staring at the screen.

Not to say they were about to hop into a threesome or anything... but if someone tried to join into that club... it just wouldn't fit.

And then there was Riku.

He was the only one that didn't seem to be part of anything - other than me, of course - and when Snow and Serah started kissing on their little flying motorcycle, ((A/N that's what I call it. XD)) he looked especially uncomfortable sitting next to Sora and Kairi, who seemed to be following suit with the characters of the game.

Meaning that they were making out.

Yikes.

Riku noticed me looking at him and we locked eyes for a few seconds. I watched as he reached into his pocket and took out his phone, then typed a message and pressed a button with a very wry smile on his face.

I raised an eyebrow, feeling confused until my own cell vibrated.

It actually didn't seem as loud as it could have. Maybe it was the music on the PS3.

I checked the message.

**Awkward, huh? :V**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

A grin broke out across my face, and it was immediately returned by Riku - as he nodded subtly in the direction of my brother. I nodded, flushing red.

**You got that rite, lol. Makes it hard  
for a decent citizen to enjoy watching  
Final Fantasy these days.**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

Riku got the message just as the cutscene ended, looked at it, and smirked.

Even though the scene wasn't going on any more, the lights remained off and Namine didn't touch the controller for a good five or six minutes. It was probably because Roxas had his arm around her, and the whole atmosphere was too awkward to do something like nonchalantly play a video game.

I stopped and thought for a moment, looking at my cousin and my best bud.

Games like Final Fantasy made you wonder if there was a guy out there as good as Snow... who'd do anything to be with you forever, no matter what. Sure, it was cheesy. But it was also sweet and sad, and that's what Square Enix was best at.

Sweet and sad.

You know, if I said that out loud, everyone would think the real Xion had been abducted.

Riku leaned down towards me, resting his head on his hand, which was propped on his knee by his elbow. "What happened to studying?" He murmured in my ear, making me jump. Without replying I opened my book and started to attempt at memorizing formulas.

It didn't matter what we did for the rest of the party. Even if we turned back into one big group later, the smaller sub-groups had been established for the night.

And even if I didn't realize it just then...

Riku and I were one of them.

* * *

OHHHHHHHH~

I have chills!

But not really. I'm just kidding.

SO, the relationship progresses! And so does the length of the chapters! Are you impressed with me? XD

Haha, you don't have to be. But I keep giving you longer and longer chapters, trying to make up for being late in posting! XC I'm sorry!

This shall become the new reality: I post once a week. Ish. School is tough... I can't use the computer afterwards thanks to household rules... I'm beat from walking all day...

=.=; AUGH! Excuses! How did Xion even get through her freshmen year? Gawd.

This chapter was spread out over several days. I started it last week, thinking I'd finish it, and never got around to... doing so. So I'm finishing it now, almost exactly a week later. Shucks.

*hands on hips* And even in that amount of time, I'm very disappointed in my reviewers for your reviews! Or...

or... lack thereof.

PLEASE review! I had a very motivating conversation with jenyflo5483, which is probably the only reason I wrote this TT-TT. To write, I need motivation... and... no reviews, no motivation.

Ack, sorry for the long stuffers at the end of this chapter right now. Got a lot to say after so long ^-^;

Hopefully, in case you were getting bored, (I was), I added a lot of _things_ in here that might interest you. If you haven't ditched out on my story already because it's only chapter nine and you have no fathom as to what's going on with Riku and Xion.

I gave stuff a little nudge in the right direction. Well, more of a big 'ol shove. *shoves riku*

Riku- OW! HEY!

Sono- *coff* ...Sorry.

OMG OKAY I'LL SHUT UP NOW! Have I leaked into 6000 words? *rolls away*

...

OH RITE! Narrative!

.

_WILL we discover the identity of this mystery person?_

_WILL others find out about Roxas and Namine?_

_WILL Xion study?_

_WILL the father figure return?_

_AND, most of all, WHEN is Axel gonna SHOW THE *censored* UP ALREADY!_

-Sono ^-^;


	10. Chapter 10

UGHGHGH WORKKK!

I REALLY hope I can get this chapter out there this week, but... It's already Sunday afternoon and... and... *facepalm* I hope I'll have enough time. Whatever, you don't care about my whining. x3

HERE WE APPROACH CHAPTER TEN!

Chapter ten already! I... I don't know what to say! *takes out microphone*

I suppose I'd like to thank all the little people out there who made this chapter possible...

Xion- You haven't even started the first sentence of it yet =.=;

Oh. Yes. Right. Thank you Xion. Well, let's begin the amazingness of the TENTH full chapter of this story. Perhaps something may happen, perhaps not...

The only way to find out is to read. :3

* * *

"XIONNN!" I heard Namine yell, making me let out an annoyed groan. My throat hurt. "Everyone's up! C'mon, hurry! Bus comes in twenty!"

"Five more minutes..." I moaned almost incomprehensibly. This, of course, translated to "let me sleep forever."

I was still at Namine's house, along with Olette and Kairi. We were the only people that were allowed to stay, of course, us being the only girls.

The party from yesterday seemed to end quickly after the 'dark room' fiasco, even though I was the only one who studied. Everyone else, after they got bored of playing Final Fantasy (Bored! I know! I was shocked too!) decided to go off and do their own things. I didn't really pay much attention to them. But, as the night went on, we banded back together and played more "truth or dare", Kairi dominating the questions, as usual.

I was forced to admit that I peed my pants in third grade.

...

Shut up! Roxas was making me laugh really hard and I couldn't sign out the bathroom pass in time! It was really embarrassing, and my teacher didn't help!

Suddenly, someone tossed something hard that hit my forehead. "HEY!" I barked, sitting up to see Namine and Olette snickering to each other. "NOT COOL!" What was that, a brick?

"Seriously, Xion, you have to get up," Kairi called from the hallway. "We're about to eat breakfast."

"Fine," I muttered, dragging myself out of my sleeping bag and to my feet. I looked at my wrist.

What was the TIME? Honestly, it felt something like 4am.

...Oh, right. No watch. Shoot. How many times have I done that?

Namine probably noticed my stupid move and glanced at her own bedroom clock. "It's 5:30. Bus comes at 5:45, so we have to hurry."

Me, Olette, and Namine were out of the room shortly, and I was toting some blue jeans and an olive green Zelda shirt to change into. I went into the upstairs bathroom and shut the door to do it.

"Get down here soon!" Olette called.

"Yeah, I will!" I yelled back as she and Nam went downstairs, probably into the kitchen to get themselves some food.

I started to unbutton my pajama shirt when I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

"Um, excuse me?"

I whipped around, red-faced, to see Riku standing there in his boxers with one eyebrow raised, toothbrush in hand. ((A/N Now that's what I call fanservice! *chuckles*))

"OMIGOD!" I gasped, falling back onto the bathroom door. "JEEZUS RIKU! I didn't even see you!"

"Uh, yeah," Riku blinked, rubbing his neck. "I didn't think you did. I'll just be leaving now." He breezed past me and closed the door behind him.

Well that sucked.

He seemed as embarrassed as I was, at least.

Why did it always seem like it was _me_ to make mistakes like that? Whatever. I'm pretty sure everyone around me was numb to it anyway - I acted like an idiot so much. In fact, just last night I tried to give Namine a sneak-attack hug and I accidentally punched her in the face.

I mean, honestly.

How does someone even do that?

I slipped into my school clothes slowly, jumping around the room in order to fully pull the jeans on.

I headed downstairs to see Kairi pouring cereal, and Namine yelling at her half-brother.

"SERIOUSLY Riku!" Nam was scolding. "Put some clothes on! If mom weren't at work, she'd be super pissed at you!"

"I'm not dressing up just because your friends are here," Riku growled back, reaching into the fridge to grab some milk.

"I'm not ASKING you to dress up!" The blonde fumed, gesturing wildly with her hands. "Is it too much to ask to have a shirt on?"

I crossed my arms across the logo of Link on my chest. It was hard to admit, but Riku had some pretty adorable bedhead when he woke up in the morning. Nothing like mine, all... ratty... like some rabid bird's nest.

Ugh. Talk about unfair.

"Stop being so loud," Riku muttered back to Namine while putting some toast down into the toaster. "You'll wake up the neighbors."

Namine huffed her disapproval, but remained silent after that. When Kairi finished up with the cereal, I poured myself a bowl, followed by Olette.

Riku was the only one eating toast.

...Why'd I even say that? Does that detail even matter at all?

...

Anyway, before long we were all sitting at the table talking.

"So, Math and Science finals today," Olette said quietly, trying to spur conversation in the awkward silence.

"Yup!" Nam replied, and Kairi nodded.

"I've SO got this," She grinned. "Geometry is SO easy. It's all like, '_oohhh_, how many sides does a _square_ have?'"

"I think my class is a little harder," Olette said with a frown. Namine took another bite of her Captain Crunch.

"Yeah, Xion's been worrying about it all week. Right Xion?"

The table dropped into silence.

"Uhm... Xion?" Kairi echoed Namine, trying to hold back a witch's cackle of laughter.

"Huh? Wha?" I snapped out of the trance I had apparently been in. "What were we talking about? Sorry, I was..."

"...Fascinated with Riku abs!" Kairi finished my sentence, probably with the only thing I definitely _wasn't _going to say, before exploding into a fit of laughter.

Namine and Olette couldn't seem to stop from breaking down either.

Some friends they are.

Riku and I glanced at each other, our faces reddening quickly. "Hey! That's not what I was doing..." I trailed off.

"Give it a rest, Kairi!" Riku snapped, crushing his paper cup. "She was just staring off into space."

"Well maybe if you didn't apt to show off your body so much," The redhead teased wickedly. "She wouldn't be tempted to stare."

"I _wasn't _st-" I cut off again then, breaking into a fit of coughing.

"Look what you did _now_, Riku!" Kairi continued to joke, but Namine stopped laughing and looked at me with concern.

"You okay, Xion?" She questioned, sounding like a nurse.

"Y-yeah," I replied, sniffling. "I think it's just allergies."

I was probably one of the only people you'd ever meet that was GIFTED with allergies in both the summer and the winter. Go figure.

Allergies were by far the dumbest thing ever invented.

Riku stood up, pushing his chair back. "Well, I'm done," He said curtly. "Don't wanna get coughed on."

"That's not very nice," I muttered back to him, already feeling the effects of a stuffy nose coming on.

He just walked away. Also very nice.

"Time to get going," Kairi shrugged, looking at the kitchen clock. "Riku's right."

I quickly drank up the rest of my cereal and put the bowl in the sink before running upstairs to grab my backpack, then back downstairs.

I had to follow Nam, Kairi and Olette outside to the end of the driveway - which was apparently the bus stop - and we started to wait there. Riku hadn't come out yet... but that was probably because he didn't want to be seen with a bunch of his sister's friends in public. Well, I didn't blame him. Sora's friends weren't too tolerable either.

We were waiting for a few minutes... and the bust still hadn't come.

"Humhmhm..." I moaned, sniffling.

"I know!" Kairi gasped. "Let's play Ninja!"

"Omg good idea!" Nam gasped. She, Kairi and Olette lined up in a circle to play some sort of strange game, before I intervened.

"Whoa, what's Ninja?"

Namine grinned. "It's an awesome game. Here, get in the circle with us." I did. Namine continued to explain how to play. "Okay. You can only make one motion. The object is to hit the hand of the person next to you. They can make one motion as an attempt to, you know, dodge it... But you can only make one movement trying to hit them. Oh, right, and if your hand gets hit then you're out. Got it?"

"Uh... I think so," I nodded. Sniff. Sniff. Gross, it was already bad.

The game began.

Olette kicked it off with a swipe at Namine, who dodged, and retaliated with a swipe at Kairi. Kairi then went for me, and I jerked my hand away. The game basically went on like this until Kairi got hit by Namine, making her get out... and then Olette got hit by me, leaving HER out.

Soon it was a battle of speed between me and Nam.

"Don't lose focus!" Kairi called as we went back and forth trying to hit each others' hands. I wasn't exactly sure who she was directing this to, but a grin crossed my face nonetheless.

Suddenly I heard the screen door slam to Namine's house, and almost looked over in the direction of the sound... but Namine continued to play and didn't even bat an eyelash. Dang, she was determined.

"Go Xion!" Olette cheered.

"Traitor!" Nam muttered back while dodging my swipe. Olette shrugged.

"Gotta root for someone."

"Hey, Namine," A deeper voice said, making her guard divert for a second. "You left your-"

"HAH!" I yelled in triumph as I hit Namine's hand in her moment of weakness. "YES! YES YES YES! I-" But then, of course, my moment of happiness was cut off by yet another fit of coughing.

"No fair!" My blonde friend fumed. "NO FAIR! Riku helped you!"

Riku blinked. "I helped her do what?"

"Xion won the game of ninja we were playing," Olette explained, smirking. "Kairi, I believe you owe me a few dollars."

"WHA?" Kairi yelped, turning on the shorter brunette. "We never betted!"

"I know, I was just kidding," Olette huffed in reply, crossing her arms. Riku slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Aw, you guys played a game without me?" He complained, bringing on a glare from his sister. "How could you?"

"Just because you always win!" She snapped.

"Riku always wins?" I questioned, rubbing my eye. Well, he did seem like he would always win a game like that, didn't he?

That's when the bus rode up, making everyone divert their attention to boarding it. Namine was apparently one of the first stops, so it seemed mostly empty. Ugh, that just meant there'd be an extra long bus ride.

Riku's bag was partially open as he began to walk up the stairs in front of me, and something toppled out of his bag and onto the ground as he grabbed the bus railing. I blinked.

It looked like a small white pill container... the type of thing you'd see someone carrying Tylenol in when they had a massive headache.

As Riku just continued up onto the bus, I reached down and picked it up. Apparently he didn't notice he dropped anything.

"Hey, Riku," I said, holding out the bottle. "Uhm... I think you dropped this thing."

He looked back at me, shocked, only to snatch the object out of my hand and shove it back in his bag. "Thanks."

And then he was walking down the aisle and sitting in one of the seats closer to the back. I joined Namine in a middle seat.

Yeah, I know it's impolite, but his hurriedness to put it away had me wishing I'd read the label.

Did Riku have allergies too? Did he have permission to have those pills?

And what were they for?

x

(^_~)

x

I took a deep breath and put my pencil down.

Okay.

The math final was over.

It was, of course, the one I was worried most about...

...and I wasn't sure about a lot of my answers, either, but now that I was finished, the only thing I could do was look over the test.

I glanced around at everyone else in the room. Namine had finished a little while ago... Olette and Hayner were still working... and Pence had a blank piece of paper out that he was scribbling on.

Nam saw me - apparently I _looked_ as worried as I felt - and shot me a thumbs up from her seat across from the sweaty room.

What if I failed? My parents would kill me if I got anything below a B. This test was such a big percentage of the grade, after all...

Scary.

With a sigh, I took one final look at the many answers on the final exam, pushed my chair back, and handed in the paper at Mr. McGregor's desk. No turning back now.

The tall, scary teacher didn't even look up at me from his computer.

I detoured to the side of the room to grab some tissues and blow my nose before sitting heavily back down in my chair. Jeez, these fast acting allergies will literally be the death of me.

It's worst right when I wake up, too. And I don't feel like getting out of bed because then I know I'll have to go all day while dealing with a sore throat and stuffy nose. Arg. Talk about no motivation.

Is there a medical condition that makes it hard for you to get out of bed in the morning, even if you aren't sick?

I think I have it.

Sigh.

For the rest of the period - which had only ten minutes or so left. Maybe more like six - I was prepared to stare blankly at the clock. They say a watched pot never boils, but the clock was truly the only thing to stare at.

After this period, there would be gym, the final one of the day.

Yeah, remember? During finals days there were messed up schedules. BUT, GLORY BE, TOMORROW WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

WHOOPEE! My first year of high school was coming to a close!

...But not yet. Tomorrow I'd have to take the Spanish and Gym finals, and then the day would be over and summer would finally be on.

...

But I wouldn't become a Sophomore if I failed the math final. No, not because I would be held back. Because my parents would kill me.

The worry of the test crashed back down onto my head despite the distraction of thinking about school being out.

And then, in the silence of the room, my phone vibrated.

Of COURSE it did. Not like I wasn't expecting that. Even though I wasn't.

Mr. McGregor, although usually very strict, seemed glued to his computer - it was the perfect time to sneak a peek at my cell. Maybe I was actually becoming numb to breaking the rules.

...Nah, that couldn't be.

I sneakily reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone, using my backpack to conceal it as I checked the text.

It was from Riku! Who else, really? Seeing the boy texting me seemed to slowly be losing its glamour – but not FULLY quite yet. I still felt the excitement I usually did at seeing his name in the "sender" section.

**Yo, you done your math yet? :3**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I smirked, feeling my cheeks heat up as if Namine were looking over my shoulder and seeing the message herself. I wrote a text back.

**Yes! But what if I hadn't been?**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

I glanced at the clock to see that only a minute or so had passed. Ugh… again, Gym was next. I wasn't looking forward to it, even if the days of fitness testing had passed.

Honestly, why was that invented? To make kids feel like crap by telling them they aren't in shape? I don't need to be reminded that I can't touch my toes, thank you very much.

My cell vibrated once more, making me completely forget I was even mad.

**You would have quickly finished so  
****you could text meee 3**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

It took all my strength not to burst out laughing at this comment. Riku was hilarious, even over the phone through writing. That's pretty impressive.

**You bet I would have, ROFL. Why can't we  
****talk like this in real life?**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

I looked up at Mr. McGregor's desk to make sure he wasn't being any more attentive. Good. He wasn't.

A lot of people, including the other teachers, compare Mr. McGregor to a hermit. He comes in early, leaves late, spends all day on his computer correcting papers.

…Makes you wonder if he has a wife. And if so, _how_? Did he and his spouse raise math gremlin children? Do they live in a math house and eat math problems for breakfast?

It seemed like Riku's reply was taking a little longer than usual, and it came two minutes or so before the dismissal bell actually rang.

**Sora's a bit of a handful. XD**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I didn't have time to reply, which I felt bad about – but that honestly made Riku sound like he was the mom and Sora was the newborn infant he had to take care of day and night.

But, still, I knew that wasn't the real reason.

Riku probably just texted me because he needed someone to talk to – not because he actually wanted to have the same sort of friendship in real life. I wasn't awkward through texting… and that probably made me tolerable enough to entertain him.

But it didn't matter. It's not like I wasn't fine with us "talking" sometimes through our phones.

The bell rang, then, making me stand up. Namine came over to me right away… and I slipped my cell phone into my backpack without much thought.

"How do you think you did?" She smiled, obviously confident in herself.

"Pretty good," I nodded, fists tight. "I hope I get a B."

"A _B_? C'mon, Xion, think higher than that!"

I frowned. "I don't wanna get my hopes up."

Hayner, Pence, and Olette walked over, all of them wearing the same expression as my blonde friend.

Aw, now this just made me feel obsolete.

"We all hope you do well, Xion!" Olette smiled, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "And good luck in gym, too."

"There's no watch left to protect your wrist from rogue basketballs." Hayner snickered, zipping up his backpack on the table.

"Sora told you about that?" I said, annoyed, as we started walking out the door. Our group paused a few feet out of the Math Building, because that's where we'd need to part ways. "It wasn't Roxas's fault."

"Actually, Roxas told us," Pence grinned, reaching into his bag to grab a protein bar. It was one of those ones that boasted being healthy – but it didn't look good for you at all. "I think he's kinda guilty he broke your oh-so-famous watch."

Namine sighed. "We'll have to tell him not to blame himself. He must feel terrible…"

I blinked. "_We_?"

"Yeah, I said we'll have to tell him that—"

"Well, I know, but… you're following me to gym?" I cut her off, confused. I tried to swallow a cough, while sniffling. Curse you, allergiessss! Cue the menacing fist shake.

"Yeah, we may run into Roxas on the way there," Namine said back to me, sounding completely hopeful and sincere. Looking at the gigantic crowd of people heading to their next classes, it didn't seem very likely. But I would have hated to burst her bubble.

"Okay, maybe. *SNIFF* See you later, guys," I waved once to Hayner, Pence, and Olette before heading down the hill to the Gym, Namine in tow.

It wasn't exactly that far away, so it wasn't long before we made it there. We _hadn't_ run into Roxas.

"Well, guess you should go to your next—" I started, but was cut off by Nam. Really, I should have expected it.

"Can I come in with you? I mean, he could be in there already." Her hands were clasped together pleadingly. I stared blankly at her face.

"You aren't serious."

"Just let me come in with you, Xion! Pleasee!"

I couldn't seem to think of any reason why she'd want to find Roxas in the gymnasium so quickly – well, scratch that. I couldn't seem to think of any _not perverted_ reason why Namine'd want to find Roxas in the gymnasium so quickly, but I had to deny her anyway.

"You're going to be late for your class, Nam," I said straightly, making my friend sigh.

"I guess. Well thanks anyway." She walked away, seeming very dejected.

…

It's not MY fault she'd be late! She's probably all the way across campus or something! This close to the end of the year, teachers have zero tolerance for kids being tardy. Nam would hate to ruin her perfect record.

I slipped into the building, going into the girls' locker room through the bathroom, opened my locker and grabbed my clothes to meet up with Kairi _just_ as the bell rang.

"Jeez!" She said, slipping on her gym shirt as I arrived. "You were almost late! What held you up?"

"I was talking with a lot of friends," I replied before coughing a few times. Kairi's natural motherly instinct mode kicked in, and she pressed the back of her hand to my forehead.

"You don't look well," She pouted worriedly. "You think you're gonna be okay for the big trip on Saturday?"

I jerked back from her hand, shocked. "Big trip?" I echoed. "What big trip?"

"Oh, our big shopping trip for you is planned for Saturday!" She squealed. My blood ran cold.

"I never agreed to that!"

"Oh, but you did!" The redhead chuckled gleefully. "I've invited everyone to come… Axel even agreed!"

She clapped her hands. I grunted, pulling on a pair of sweatpants angrily.

Okay, so what if I had? I wasn't keen on Kairi inviting everyone to buy a new _style_ for me. Sheesh. I had a style. It was called Xion.

After we were dressed, we headed into the gym and were told to do our laps.

Sora and Roxas ran over to jog next to us.

"Roxas!" I said immediately as he came up to me. "I wish you wouldn't be guilty about the watch! *SNIFF*"

"Well that was random," My cousin replied, nudging me. "Sorry. I mean... that watch was your _thing_! And now you don't have a thing!"

"I definitely hope she doesn't have a thing," Sora cut in, impishly covering his mouth with his fingertips.

Kairi gasped. "Sora!" She said, smacking him. "That wasn't nice to your sister!"

"You know you love me anyway, though," My annoying brother chuckled.

Ugh, that arrogant... little... UGH!

Our lap was finished quickly, and we started following the instructor to do our stretching.

"Sooo," Kairi giggled, leaning down to touch the floor. She was one of those wicked flexible girls that probably secretly had rubber superpowers like Mr. Incredible - but kept them undercover and just used them to show off in gym class, making everyone think they'd done gymnastics since they were born. "Of course there's Xion's big day on Saturday."

"Xion's birthday is in March," Roxas said, while _Sora_ immediately followed Roxas's statement with, "XION'S GETTING MARRIED?"

"Shut up you guys," I said, sniffling some more.

"I'm _talking _about the shopping trip I have planned," Kairi huffed, annoyed by how dumb the boys were acting, probably.

"Oh," My cousin and brother muttered in unison. "Shopping."

"I know guys don't like shopping as much as I do," Kairi went on, smiling like she had everything planned out. "So it's going to become a party."

At that, the boys perked up.

A _PARTY_? What the heck?

Did this really need to become that big of a deal?

"Today is another free day!" The gym teacher announced, breaking off our conversation. "Since tomorrow is an early release, there will be no P.E. Be sure to bring your gym clothes home after class! And have a great summer everyone!"

Gym class began, and unfortunately for me, Kairi had both Sora and Roxas raving about the upcoming celebration in my honor.

Damn. This was going to end up embarrassing, wasn't it?

* * *

THERE! CHAPTER TEN IS DONE! YAYYY! YAAAAY! YAYYY!

It's not as long as chapter nine. Oh well. As you can see, it took me longer than a week to get this chapter out here.

The beginning of this chapter - the into, when I take out the microphone - was written last week, _last_ Sunday, so you can safely assume that this un-impressively long chapter took me just about a week to write.

And for that, I am sorry.

It's just... last weekend was really stressful, and...

Ah, well that doesn't matter now. New standards have been set. I will, from now on, try to get each chapter in WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF THE LAST! Isn't that just perfectly reasonable?

.3.

I have no song to dedicate this chapter to, cuz it was very filler-like and... you know, unimpressive. Like I said. But... *sigh*

Thanks to everyone for supporting me this far! I can't wait for all of you to read on and find out what happens :3

As you can imagine, it's very difficult to write about blaring heat when winter is just around the corner (Oh, summer. Where have you gone?) but I've been through some horribly hot high school days myself... so I can just think back to it. If you're wondering why Xion is sick, why, that's simple! It's... It's because...

*SNIFF* *COFF HACK COFF*

...I am sick as well. And I have allergies in the summer _and_ the winter. I'm sensing some uncanny similarities between me and my main character.

...

.

_WILL Xion find out what's in Riku's mysterious pill bottle?_

_WILL our heroine's father be at the house when she returns?_

_WILL we find out why Namine needed to see Roxas so badly?_

_WILL the party turn out to be a disaster?_

_AND most of all, AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL!_

Thanks again for reading, and DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!

-Sono ^-^


	11. Chapter 11

Whew.

Okay, it's Friday night, and I'm going to TRY REALLY HARD TO GET THIS CHAPTER IN AUGHH!

Now that I'm on chapter 11, it's a little bit of an uneven number and... well... the hype is gone. Lost. I am no longer excited. *frown*

Well, whatever, I hope you like chapter 11 folks! I'm so SO happy with your reviews, and of course I rejoice when I get more.

In fact, I think your kind words might be... healing me!

...

I'm kidding. I'm only a little sick (talk about a fast recovery) but still sick nonetheless. Again, thank you guys for hanging on this long. Our heroine's life may not continue to be so easy...

* * *

_._

.:Xion's POV:.

_._

_Tap tap tappa tappa tap._

That was the sound of me playing one of the lesser Square Enix games on my Nintendo DS.

Not that I had given up on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. That game - and I don't care what you say or hear - is impossible to get old. I just thought that I should try different stuff every now and then.

It wasn't strange for me to be playing my DS in the morning on a Saturday, either.

Oh, yeah.

In case you were wondering, it _is_ Saturday. Also put as, the first DAY OFF FROM SCHOOL! WOO HOO! YEAHH!

Although, if you saw me at that point, I probably looked so tired that "WOO HOO" didn't seem like what I was thinking. But it was. I was in bliss.

Friday was pretty much the same as any last day of school you'd ever been through. We got our yearbooks, people were rushing around with phones and cameras and snapping photos left and right. We took our last two finals - which pretty much just made the day more mundane - but after that we could leave and hang out like the crazy teens we were.

Kairi didn't forget to remind everyone about the trip involving me that was happening the next day. Her lure seemed to be that Axel was coming, and she went around telling everyone that and made sure they knew what time the big shopping spree was and all of that information.

Yay, lucky me!

Seriously, why was all this centered around me?

Anyway, when I got home, Dad was there as promised. Really, it was pretty awesome. After him being away for so long, and just being here with Sora...

Yeah, I missed him. I could barely remember the time we were all a family together, and that wasn't that long ago.

Right then Sora exploded down the stairs.

"WOOOOOOO!" He yelled, filling the entire house with the noise.

"Calm down, there!" I could hear my dad shush from the kitchen. He was reading the paper, like most dads do. Although his usual activity was watching TV or something, the morning was his designated time to unwind after a pretty difficult job.

"SORRY!" Sora didn't seem that much calmer at all. "SO EXCITEDDD!" And then my brother came up to me as if he wanted to drag me into his big... loud cloud. "Xion, it's summer!" He announced. "Let's go outside."

"No," was my curt reply. I could almost immediately feel the disapproval wafting in from my dad's direction.

"Xion," He began, like he always did when addressing me. "Spend some time with your brother."

"But I'm with him every day! And we're already going out this afternoon to-" I cut off to cough a little bit.

"Why does everything have to be an argument with you kids?" My dad muttered, and I could only hear the rustling of the newspaper in his hands.

Sora perked up. "Oh, right! The party!"

"If you're going out to a party, why don't you get out early and have some fresh air?" My dad continued on. Was he tuning out what I said or something? It was always like this, though... then just hearing what they wanted to hear out of what I said.

Sometimes I wondered how I could miss my parents, but hey. They're my parents. What am I supposed to do?

Besides, this kind of angsty high-school-kid-not-being-paid-attention-to thing wasn't uncommon. It was in pretty much every sitcom that ever existed, right? Those scenarios had to come from somewhere.

And, him being my dad, I couldn't say, "NO, I am not going to go outside and have some fresh air!"

So I stood up, glowering at Sora's look of triumph. Even though he could easily go out without me - and probably preferred to - there had to be some sort of ulterior to his evil. Maybe he was hoping we'd run into Kairi and start the party early.

According to Kairi... no ME, no party. Which was pretty strange for her to say. Well, this whole thing was strange. A party based on me buying new clothing?

Sounds like a wonderful and also very practical idea to me.

Ha ha.

BUT, even though the whole thing didn't seem like that much fun, Axel was going to be there. He'd been pretty much not around for a long time... and he was actually a really good friend to have around. I used to hang out with him a lot more when he was a Junior... but maybe going up a rank in high school made him extra busy or something. I don't know.

"Fine. I'm going, Dad!" I called over into the kitchen, and heard a sigh of triumph.

"Have fun!" He said back to me. I blew a strand of hair from my face.

Whoa, how long was my hair getting now? It was almost to my shoulders - maybe an inch or so away. Pretty close, considering I usually kept it short. I'd have to do something about it soon.

Right as I saved and shut the game off Sora dragged me over to the stairs, urging me to get dressed. He was very hyper, might I add.

"Sora, calm down!" I snapped, in a pretty bad mood. Jeez, it was the first day of summer. I should calm down a little, myself.

I was maybe one of the only people you'd meet who could realize and correct a shitty attitude - probably because I thought they ruined whatever fun I might have if I kept them. SORA, however, was terrible at this and spread his bad mood around like butter. Lots and lots of butter. I think he picked up this trait from our mother. Seriously, you don't wanna stick around her when she's in a "mood" long enough to get what I mean.

I ran into my bedroom (which was GAWD AWFUL chilly from the air conditioning blasting on too high) and changed into my NeverShoutNever shirt.

And then - drumroll please - I opened my closet and busted out my favorite jean short shorts.

HUZZAH!

When I say "short shorts" I mean, of course, the shorts that end above the fingertips - our school rule for the length of pantware. ALL YEAR I had to refrain from wearing these and others like them.

But now, the summer was a time to BE FREE.

I slipped them on and checked myself in the mirror before running downstairs to the angered Sora. Maybe the few minutes I took to dress was a few minutes too long.

"Be home by eight! Be sure to bring your cell phones!" I heard my dad caution. He had moved since i went upstairs - to the family room now. Maybe he was about to turn on the TV. OR he could be answering an email.

And email or phone call on my dad's work lines meant he would have to leave again... Making me and Sora stay here by ourselves.

That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

When I heard the TV turn on, though, I guessed he hadn't gotten the call to leave yet.

They wouldn't force him out so soon, anyway.

"Right!" I called back to my father, breaking away from Sora to grab my phone from the chair I had been sitting in before I got dressed.

"Give your pappy a hug before you go," He grinned, and I ran over to do so. My dad looked a lot like me.

Or... ahem, catch that, _I_ looked like _him_.

Our whole family had the same eyes, but dad and I shared the same straight, black hair. Even though he was at least 50, he wasn't balding, either.

...A good sign for Sora in the future.

Sora, in addition to sharing the bad-mood-spreader quality with our mom, they had the same brown hair. If Sora could bare to un-spike his head-pelt, you'd see that his hair was actually wavy like our mom's. It was pretty... ironic, if you ask me.

Moving on.

I hugged dad and rushed out the door with Sora. Now that he'd actually dragged me off of the lazy butt, I was pretty psyched to be going out for the first day of summer.

Sure, there was a dumb party based on me. But I could make the best of it!

Sora ran on ahead of me - nothing new there - but I knew he wouldn't completely leave me behind, so I kept a steady pace and glanced around the town.

For a summer day, it was actually pretty cool. Maybe in the mid 70's... but it was still kinda morning. It'd probably warm right up. I hope the store's air conditioned.

I walked for a bit, listening to my flip flips click-clack on the sidewalk, when my phone buzzed.

Whoa, was that dad?

I flipped it open to find a text from NONE OTHER THAN...

...

Kairi.

What, who did you expect?

Ha, I got you. Admit it.

Well, anyway, I opened the message, blinking in confusion. Was the party happening early or something?

Jeezus, I hope not.

**Hey, guys. Bad news.**

**From: Kairi**

**To: Me**

Okay, first off, my PET PEEVE (what'd that phrase even come from, anyway) was when people sent bulk texts. I mean, like, when someone just writes one text and sends the same one to everybody. It makes me feel not special.

You can totally tell when they're doing it, too, because they always go, "Hey, _everybody_!" And you're all like, "Everybody WHO?"

Ugh. I just wish they wouldn't say EVERYBODY, at least.

So, as I was reading this, I couldn't help but hope Kairi had no money and the trip was changed to be a party at the beach instead. I also wished Kairi hadn't been so vague.

I texted back anyway.

**Why, what's wrong?**

**From: Me**

**To: Kairi**

Kairi has quite the talent for typing quickly with her thumbs... and her return message appeared in under a minute.

**Axel just called me up and randomly  
cancelled on us. He can't go.**

**From: Kairi**

**To: Me**

WHAT?

My jaw dropped.

What the heck!

It was gonna be the first time I'd have seen Axel in... like, FOREVER! And now he just randomly cancels! NOT COOL!

Before, I was just thinking college applications and SAT's or whatever were holding him down... but NOW...

It's the first day off from school, he's graduated, and he still has no time to see us! Some friend he is!

**That jerk. We can go on without him.**

**From: Me**

**To: Kairi**

I didn't realize what I had typed until it was too late. "We can go on without him"? That sounds a lot like I actually want to do the party.

And it made me sound a lot angrier with my friend than I really was. Part of me was worried, actually. Worried that Axel was getting hung up with something really bad. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd necessarily say "NO" to drugs and keep above the influence and all that, after all.

What if he was... in trouble?

...

I shook my head.

Axel would definitely not need my help if he was in a bad situation. He'd pulled me out of enough fights and everything for me to know that. ((A/N BLAARGHH I ate too much and I feel like I'm gonna EXPLOOOOODE! ...What does that have to do with anything?))

I felt my phone vibrate one last time and checked the message.

**The party's still on. I guess he just won't be there.**

**From: Kairi**

**To: Me**

I slipped the phone back into my pocket without replying - just as I saw the outline of Sora returning from the distance. See? He wouldn't run too far without me.

"Axel can't go," He muttered as we were within 15 feet of each other. I shrugged.

"He's probably really busy with colleges or something." *SNIFF* *Cough* The allergies weren't as bad as they were a few days ago, luckily.

"I thought Axel wouldn't GO to college," My brother sounded a lot like a pouty little kid when he said this, making me snort.

"_Why_ wouldn't Axel go to college? He's got a terrible clammy job." ((A/N Remember?))

"I thought he wanted to stay and hang out with us."

I grinned and lightly shoved Sora's shoulder. "Why would he give up the college experience to keep with a bunch of snotty kids?"

"You're ONE of those snotty kids, you know," Sora retorted, and I cracked up. "It's not funny!" He went on. Which, of course, just made me laugh more.

"So when's the party, again?" I asked once I'd calmed down enough.

"What time is it?"

I checked my PHONE this time, making sure to remember that my watch was NOT on my wrist.

"Like, 11:10." ((A/N Did I mention a time earlier on in this chapter? I hope not. Cuz I'm too lazy to check.))

"We've got 50 minutes," He said matter-of-factly. I could tell he was excited to see his girlfriend...

Even though the last time he saw her was...

Oh yeah, YESTERDAY.

*sigh* Obsessed teen lovers. So annoying. Glad I wasn't one. ((A/N ZINGG))

"I wanna get some ice cream before we go though," Sora said, glancing off in the direction of the ice cream shop. He jingled some coins around in his pocket excitedly.

I shrugged. Even though he JUST at breakfast - But that was how Sora rolled, and I didn't complain or change it. "Sure, you can if you want. I'm gonna get on the train to the other part of town and be in the store ahead of time."

My brother and I parted ways.

The clothing store Kairi had us scheduled to gather at was in the upper part of town - the part you had to take the free tram to get to. The whole "free" thing was especially good, because ever since buying Final Fantasy I'd been broke. Hey, those games were a lot of munny!

I made my way to the train station through the orange and yellow hued city. When I got there, I arrived near the back of it (a place you've probably never been. There's quite a few alleyways and a break in the buildings leading up to the end of the first train. You have to go around all of the parked trams to make it to the ticket booth) and had to walk further along.

I paused next to a red brick building to check my phone for the time again.

See? THIS is why I used to wear a watch. I need the time a lot.

11:30. Okay.

So it'd actually take a little time to get there. And then I'd only be a LITTLE BIT early... Good, that was perfect. I could definitely scope out the store and make sure the clothing there was acceptable before rushing in and having people pick things out for me to wear.

I nodded to myself, slightly relieved, when I saw something moving in the alley from the corner of my eye.

I blinked.

Okay, Xion, this is where the murderer jumps out and rapes the unsuspecting damsel. Be on your guard.

Yeah, yeah, I was being overly cautious. And also very curious, considering - instead of just continuing on like I should have done - I walked down the alley to see what was there. THIS was the part everyone watching the movie screamed, "DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT, YOU NAIVE BUT ATTRACTIVE PROTAGONIST!"

Not to say this was a movie, of course, but it could have been one if it was.

If that makes sense.

Nobody was in that particular alleyway, per se, but I knew the person/thing probably turned the corner when I wasn't looking...

So I _quickly_ ran around the back of the building to see...

"Axel?" I squeaked, my eyes going wide. My voice - which had gone up an octave or two - cracked in the end and sent me into a fit of coughing.

Axel's spiked head turned towards me sharply and pushed me against the wall.

"XION!" He hissed. His voice sounded pretty forlorn. But... at least he didn't look like he'd been doing drugs. "What are you doing here?"

To me, he looked pretty... well, Axel-like, to be honest. At least this put a lot of my worries to rest.

I cleared my throat as he leaned back out of my face a little, letting some pressure off of me. "What am _I _doing here? I was gonna ask you the same thing.." And, of course, why you ditched out on the party like a heartless asshole. But, I didn't say that out loud. The situation was too intense.

"You shouldn't be here alone," My friend went on, stepping back and keeping a hand on my shoulder. "I really don't think it's that safe."

"I noticed how you dodged my question," I said, frowning and raising an eyebrow in his direction. "And I've been here enough. It's totally safe."

"Hey, I'm just worried about any crazy murderers out there. They look for the dumbest little girls, you know," Axel suddenly took his hand off of me and began acting pretty laid back as if he'd been that way since we ran into each other. It felt like his voice went through a transformation.

"Hey!" I snapped, stiffening my arms. "Shut up!" Unfortunately I didn't notice he was acting strange then. I was one of those dumb girls the murderer would look for.

"Just warning you," He grinned, the two teardrop-shaped tattoos on his cheeks lifting. "Sorry I had to back out on your big thing or whatever it was," He went on, making me feel bad that I got mad at him at all. "I'm really busy with trying to find a different job and stuff... and moving out of my parents' house and everything."

"Y-yeah, I totally get it," I nodded, even though a few seconds ago I hadn't gotten it.

Axel patted me on the shoulder. By now, all of my reasons to be unsettled had melted away.

In a few minutes I was on the tram - no longer early, but not late - thinking Axel was perfectly fine and nothing was wrong at all.

x

(Q_Q)

x

.

~:Riku's POV:~

I walked as fast as I could through the alleyway behind the train station - as fast as I could with it still being called "walking". ((A/N Hard to get into the mindset of this scene because I can't stop listening to "DR. Worm". Look it up. Lol, seriously. Do it.))

My phone vibrated wildly in my pocket, making me jump practically ten feet in the air. HOLY-

I fumbled with it, flipping it open to view what I'd received. Oh. It was a call.

...Great.

I picked it up. I felt like I had to, even though I probably could have ignored it. If I always ignored my calls, though, I wouldn't even BE here.

"Riku," The voice on the other line addressed. He sounded really happy, as usual, as if everything in the world was perfect. My eyes involuntarily rolled at the sound of it. "You found the guy yet?" He went on.

"No," I replied bluntly, thinking about hanging up. "But I kind of really have to-"

"Keep looking," The guy on the other line cut me off before I could finish my sentence. "I know someone's there, and he's gonna get us all in some deep shit if you don't find him." Ugh, there he goes, still cheerful.

"I know, I KNOW he is, but I really have to get-"

The voice cut me off again. "Brother. Come on. We're brothers, aren't we? Yeah, we're brothers."

"Are you high or something?" I added quite a bit of sarcasm to my voice, making it clear that I didn't think we were 'brothers' at all.

"You wound me, man," I made a scoffing noise when I heard him say this, but he ignored me and continued. "You know you're gonna take the fall for this if you don't catch the guy."

"Yeah," I was planning to say more after that, but my mouth kind of dried up and I couldn't seem to manage. The horrible person on the other end of the line let out a satisfied sound.

"Good. Someone told me they saw a guy checking out that area. It's the wrong place," He took a break to laugh and say something about a retard. "...But it won't be too long 'till he gets the to RIGHT place, know what I mean?"

"How do you know he's even looking for you?"

"Looking for _us_, you mean."

"Shut the hell up," I snapped, squeezing the cell phone so tightly I thought I heard a cracking sound from inside.

"Hahahaha, okay, good luck finding the guy. Keep looking until you find him!" Click.

I snapped the phone shut angrily and kicked over a nearby trash can - which clanged LOUDLY off of the red brick wall and landed on the ground sideways, rattling.

It took a few long deep breaths to calm me down.

I looked at my phone clock. 12:05.

I looked back up down the dark alleyway.

And back down at my clock.

It took only a few seconds for me to turn and leave, heading up the stairs and onto the Free Tram.

x

(6 -6;)

x

.

.:Xion's POV:.

"You should try these on Xion," Kairi instructed, holding out a pair of gray-blue skinny jeans. They were almost identical to the ones she was wearing at that time. Huhh, what a coincidence.

She was probably trying to raise me to become a mini-Kairi. Just you wait and see.

I took one look at the pants, then glanced down at my own favorite baggy jeans. They weren't TOO baggy, or too tight, either. I loved them.

"Uh... I don't know.." I muttered, pretending to shift through some other racks.

The girly girl scoffed. "Don't you wanna look good for when Riku, Roxas, and Sora make it here?"

Namine, who was just a little ways across the store, nodded. "Yeah, we have to totally surprise them with the beginnings of your new look!" See? There you go. Again, Nam warps into girly groupee mode when shopping with Kairi. Same thing happened when we were out looking for her bathing suit.

"Olette's hunting over by the shorts section," Kairi went on. "We HAVE to get you some summer wear. Maybe we could try out a bikini for you this year?"

I face went red. "No way!"

"I think you'd look good in one."

"NOOO thank you."

Kairi let out a puff of air through her lips while giving me the, 'Oh, fine,' glare through her bangs - which were just beginning to fall in front of her face. It looked like she forgot to push them over when she was seriously concentrating on something. Something such as, say, her new apprentice in all things girly and identical to herself.

The boys were late. Of course. It'd only been about four of five minutes since our get-together started - I'm going to stop calling it party - but Kairi was pissed. She was definitely going to spank Sora or something when he got here.

The store Kairi chose was very pink and generic, with pictures of shirtless and attractive guys found throughout both the men's and women's sections on posters. Jesse McCartney music wafted throughout the atmosphere like a bad disease. ((A/N I can picture Roxas walking in like, "I sense... a disturbance. A disturbance in the force..."))

"Here, go into the dressing room and try these ones on," Kairi instructed, handing me the grayish pants and a pink shirt with a date on it. Who knows what the date was? The day the store was founded? The creator's birthdate? Something someone made up? The world may never know.

I didn't wanna be sporting it on my chest, whatever it meant.

Avoiding any argument, I snatched the clothes from Kairi's hand and went into the first dressing room stall I found.

I couldn't help but let me mind wander as I changed.

Why were the guys late anyway? Sora seemed like he was really excited to go. Well, they were all probably doing the same thing together no matter where they were.

Oh yeah, and I'd have to tell everyone why Axel couldn't come - since I met him earlier and he told me.

...

But why was he lurking around in the alleyway? Shoot, I'd been meaning to ask that..

I slipped the pink shirt on, which felt a little tight like it was choking me. Gross. Is this how Kairi felt every day? I'd have to ask her for a compromise... Sure, I'll buy pink shirts, but they have to be at least 1 size too big on me or I'm not wearing them. Ever.

I left my normal outfit in a pile on the bench in the dressing room and barely looked at myself in the mirror before quickly swinging the door open and storming outside.

Only to nearly bump face-first into Riku.

My head jerked back.

"Riku!" I yelped immediately, a knee-jerk reaction.

He blinked at me - and for a second it looked as if his face was a little red.

"They... asked me... uhm... they asked me to be the judge."

"Oh."

Riku looked me up and down, seeming like he was trying to figure out what to say.

"You look... different." He muttered. He really sounded uncomfortable.

"It looks bad?"

"Uhm, no, I mean, you just look..." He trailed off and I decided to change the subject. And also to change my clothes again very soon.

"You're here!" I grinned excitedly, spreading out my hands. "Where's Sora and Roxas?"

"They're here too," He looked grateful we were off the other topic as he nodded back towards the group, which was together and trying to choose a pair of shorts. Yay.

"Cool. Let's see what Kairi thinks." I walked over to my brother's girlfriend and shrugged. "How's it look?"

"OH XION!" Kairi gushed. "YOU LOOK AWESOME! Look at her, guys! She's adorable!"

Sora and Roxas weren't paying any attention (Sora was trying on bras over his shirt and preoccupying both of them) but at least Roxas bothered to shoot a thumbs-up without looking, while Sora did nothing.

"Omg, Xion, you look so different!" Namine smiled, handing some clothes over to Olette, who appeared to be holding the selection. "Those are a keeper!"

Did I really look THAT different?

Olette completely agreed with Namine, which told me that I DID. "Yeah, Xion, you're like a totally new person!"

"I'll buy you the shirt," Kairi said, looking down at the collection of jeans Olette had. "Maybe we should get you one pair of skinny jeans... And two pairs of shorts. Really _good_ shorts."

I felt like I was in the spotlight. Ew, get off me, light!

Olette dug through her pile and pulled out a pink bikini. "Look!" She announced. "This promises to make your boobs look ten times bigger or your money back! And it's in your size, Xion!"

My face turned bright red, my jaw dropping. "GROSS! HELL NO!"

Riku turned away, rubbing his neck. Roxas and Sora still weren't paying attention.

"But it's so perfect!"

"NO MEANS NO!"

"You can't make her, Olette," Kairi said dismissively, grabbing a pair of black shorts. Short shorts. Hot pants. Need I elaborate? "Here, try these ones, and we'll get a duplicate in another color."

I grudgingly grabbed the pair of shorts, which were made of some kind of jean-y material. Were they trying to turn me into a slut? I agreed to this, so I'd humor them just for today. JUST FOR TODAY.

I went into the same dressing room and made sure my old clothes were still there - they were. The store was empty except for us - and changed into the shorts. They matched well with the shirt, actually. Kairi was a pro at matchery.

A glance in the mirror told me that I looked like a... a... Jeezus, what did I look like? Not me, that's for sure.

I stepped outside to see Kairi and Olette arguing over which pants I should get, and Sora repeatedly asking Namine what bra size she was - with Roxas trying to shut him up.

Riku looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. He kept looking at the door.

Jeez, he's not the only one.

I slipped back into the stall and grabbed my phone from my pants' pocket.

**You bored?**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

My phone vibrated again in less than a minute. He had some speed.

**Hell yes.**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I didn't really text back... because I couldn't really think of anything to say. So we were both bored. We couldn't just walk out on something we _both_ agreed to do...

I went back outside the dressing room again, to the sound of Kairi gasping and cooing and rushing over to me. "Oh, Xion this is perfect!" She grinned. "We need to get you another pair of these! And then we can go back to my house and hang.."

"Wait," Namine said, shifting through a rack of tank tops. "I found something else she can try on."

"What?" Kairi looked taken aback.

"See, look at these?"

And before I knew it they were all arguing again.

Riku looked at me and rolled his eyes, and I nodded at him, exasperated. He pointed to the door quietly.

I got the message.

"Hey, Xion, what do you think about-" Kairi cut off when she saw us walking through the door and setting off the clothing-stealer-protector thing. "Where are you going?"

The employee started yelling at them as Riku and I left.

Oh well. The place was terrible anyway.

* * *

Chapter 11 is wrapped up ^-^

I hope you liked it! I love writing for you guys, and I LOVE getting your reviews! I MAY write a Luxord day fanfic thing, but maybe not. So happy Luxord Day, everyone, if I don't get to it! And happy Columbus Day to every American reading this tomorrow! And Merry Christmas to everyone reading it months late!

I'm sorry it's been three weeks and it's late. The chapter, I mean. I've come to realize that high school is so busy that... well...

I may not be able to update regularly any more. I'm sorry, but that's the truth XD

So I'll stop apologizing and trying to make up for it by writing longer and longer chapters. x3

HMMMM, see how much mystery was brought up here? An antagonist, perhaps? Who could it be?

And leaving Axel out of the picture WASN'T a careless mistake by the author?

What's up with Riku?

Oh, silly me. These questions are a job for... the lousy Narrative. Of course.

_WILL Xion ever change her style?_

_WILL we discover what Axel was doing?_

_WILL Riku find who he was told to look for?_

_WILL Kairi have to pick up the tab of Xion's technically stolen clothing?_

_AND most of all... WHO, I say, WHOOOOO is the mastermind on the other line of the cell phone?_

-Sono ^-^;


	12. Chapter 12

GAH, I feel like a professional author, cramming to make the deadline.

My latest writing hasn't been up to my par. Don't ask. It just wasn't. *poutyface*

It probably isn't even any different, lol, and I'm just being self-conscious about meself or something. My latest manga? Why are you asking about that? What do you mean you didn't ask?

It's a shojo, surprisingly. Me and My Brothers. The exact volume I've needed for months isn't in any bookstore I checked in - so I looked online and it wasn't there either. I had to make an account on some weird website to gain access into reading it - and now I'm on the last chapter... _which isn't posted yet_! Dear Gawd, waii! Well it's fine. I'll read it someday.

What am I doing for Halloween? Why are you asking me such weird questions? Are you implying I write a Halloween special or something? I probably won't. I may think about it though. Like I said, I feel like a professional author, who's already cramming on deadlines. And for a fanfiction chapter 5000 words long, no less. What a pitiful person I am.

* * *

.

.:Xion's POV:.

.

Riku and I were strolling down the sidewalk. Frankly, it was _very romantic_.

Okay, that's exaggerated. Riku wasn't looking at me at all and hadn't been for the entire time we'd been there.

We weren't talking very much either because, as you can imagine, I wasn't very fluent or good at speaking, especially around Riku. That's pretty much why I only texted him.

We'd also just escaped from Kairi's much-awaited shopping spree, though, leaving her to pay for the stuff and everything... so an exchange of words at this time was probably in order. I teed the ball up.

"Soo... what should we do now?" I may have inadvertently inserted some excitement into my voice - but that was because I felt like a rebel after walking right out of a clothing store while _still wearing_ the clothing from it. Although this, unfortunately, meant I was wearing a pink t-shirt and some hot pants.

Not my outfit of choice.

Riku continued not looking at me. "I dunno, I feel up for some ice cream," He didn't stop walking when he replied flatly, keeping his steps even. I had to move my short legs twice as fast to keep up with his pace. Jeez! That can seriously tire someone out!

"Yeah, I mean, that sounds good. We can get some for Kairi and the others when they catch up," They couldn't be far behind us, after all - they only needed to pay for the clothes and leave to find us.

"Whatever."

We kept walking awkwardly, me glancing up at Riku every so often only to see that he wasn't looking at me at all. Was it the outfit? Damn, it had to be the outfit. I should've change before leaving, shouldn't I have?

"I'll buy," Riku suddenly said, which made me realize that we were at the ice cream store. I blinked.

"Oh, yeah, thanks."

The outside window was closed and a black paper was covering it, strangely. A sign posted there said, 'Please order inside.'

That's weird. What happened?

Riku observed the sign and opened the door the the shop, making the sound of bells ring out. He gestured with his hand back at me, indicating to wait. "I'll be right back out I guess," he said, and I watched the door close behind him.

He seemed really out of character. Well, I didn't really spend that much time with him alone, so... how would I know what his character is?

Texting doesn't count. Be quiet.

"You and Riku, huh?"

I heard an unfamiliar and very feminine voice from behind me, and whipped around to face it.

There stood three girls. Three very different girls.

The one standing in front of the other two, the one who had apparently spoken, had short wispy brown hair and a really nice-looking smile to go with her really nice-looking outfit - long blue skirt, pink and white lacy sweatshirt... she could have been attending a party or something.

There was a blonde behind her wearing a light blue bandanna, red scarf and clothes that were much more inappropriate than my current ones. She looked like she was trying not to laugh at something. It was actually kind of annoying.

The last girl looked pretty gothy, with ultra-short grayish black hair and black clothes that went perfectly with her black boots and her black gloves. She had a red belt that also seemed to scream, "Leave me alone." ((A/N I just realized I'm sitting in my room with all the lights off at night. XD Lol I'm gonna shrivel up.))

All three of them looked a _lot_ older than me.

I was dumbstruck, to be honest. "Huh... what?"

"I said, you and Riku? You guys going out?"

My face went red as the girl in the front repeated her question. "No! No, we're not, we were just..."

"I was just asking, silly, don't be worried," She then went up to the window - the one that was covered with black paper - to examine it.

"You know Riku?" I tried not to sound too creeped out, but really didn't succeed.

"A little, I guess," She turned around and smiled back at me, holding out her hand. "I'm Yuna. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, I'm Xion," I wasn't really that great at introductions, but Yuna didn't seem to care. "Thanks."

The blonde stepped towards me. "I'm Rikku," She grinned with a wave. I cracked a smile at that.

"You and Riku have the same name." Okay, yeah that was a stupid thing to say. Kind of obvious, right? Rikku didn't seem to take any notice, however.

"Yeah! Isn't that the coolest!" She and Yuna glanced at the final, gothy girl as if waiting for her to introduce herself. It didn't seem like she was very keen on it. But she spoke anyway.

"I'm Paine."

Very talkative, I could tell.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked Yuna (or any of them for that matter), glancing back at the store's entrance to see if Riku was coming out yet. He wasn't. Like, in case you wanted to know or anything.

"We heard something happened at the ice cream shop and wanted to check it out," Rikku explained while tugging on the end of her scarf. "I _live_ for the 'cookies and cream' bars they sell here! I would _DIE_ without them!"

Paine crossed her arms. "The window's just covered. Nothing special."

Yuna waved her hand dismissively. "False alarm, I guess."

"But why'd they cover it like this?" I asked, and couldn't help but sound naive. It was probably just the girls' presence making me like that. "The inside is still okay."

They all shrugged. "Idk," Rikku said, appearing to be in deep thought. Yes, she really did say 'Idk'. "But I did think I heard-"

Just then Riku emerged from the store with two Sea-Salt Popsicles in his hands. "I got the ice cream!" he announced with a flourish, only to stop short upon seeing the three girls standing there.

"Hi Riku!" Yuna smiled, waving nicely. Come to think of it, the girls looked about Riku's age. Maybe a little older. How'd they know him?

Rikku whipped out her cell phone and looked to me, sighing. "I just got a text. We have to go."

Yuna frowned. Paine put her hands on her hips in disappointment. "Well..." ((A/N I just had a typo moment and wrote "Tuna" instead of "Yuna"! Hehehehehehehe!)) Yuna said to me, still sounding pretty happy, but also sad at the same time, "What's your number? We can keep in touch!"

I already felt like these guys were my friends, so I gave them my number, they gave me theirs...

Riku didn't say much throughout the exchange, but after they left in a chorus of 'Nice to meet you's' and 'See you later's' we started walking again. This time he was a little more talkative than before.

"That was weird," He said, smirking slightly - I hardly noticed.

"You know them?" I asked, and the naive-ness of my voice didn't seem to have worn off. Riku seemed a lot taller and older than me, come to think of it.

"Kind of. Not really," He seemed a little too quick to dismiss the subject - but that was probably just me imagining things. Riku was never blatantly quick about anything.

I mean, to my understanding of him.

Because, like, I don't really know him that well.

Even though I kind of do.

He handed me my sea-salt ice cream, and I nodded thanks to him before taking my first few licks.

"Where do you wanna go now?" Riku's voice - and I may be over-analyzing this, I'll admit - seemed curious above all else. It sounded like he was wondering what I would say. And analyzing the possibilities in his head.

I wasn't sure what my answer was about to be, but I opened my mouth to say something anyway before getting cut off by the angry yell of... Kairi.

"You guys!" She fumed, running up to us. Namine, Olette, Roxas and Sora were trailing behind her, holding small stacks of clothing. Riku turned to face her with an 'I-totally-saw-that-coming' expression on his face - which made me feel like laughing for some reason. "You left us to calm the employee dude down and pay and stuff!"

"Sorry.." I muttered, actually feeling genuine about it. "I was kind of ready to move on, and..."

"You could have said something!" She huffed some air out from between her lips in an overly quick sigh. "It's fine. Fine, really. Glad we caught you guys so we can still go back to my house."

"About time," Riku bit into his Popsicle - something that always seemed to give me really cold teeth - and jammed his hand in his pocket. He seemed disappointed, maybe. We probably looked like we were trying too hard not to look at each other.

One side of Namine's mouth was peaking up, just slightly, and I wrinkled my eyebrows at her. She started whistling, which means she was hiding something. People always whistle when they're hiding things.

"What do you mean '_about time'_?" Sora fumed, stomping ahead of his girlfriend. "You're the ones who ran away in the first place!"

"Took you too long to find us."

"I deserve that ice cream more than you!" My brother leaped for Riku's treat and the two of them quickly started fighting - reminding me of... well, every time they were ever together, really.

'Sora's a bit of a handful.' Is that what Riku's supposed to mean by that?

I grinned while watching them anyway. Hey, it was funny.

"Maybe you should buy one for yourself," Riku was trying not to laugh when he said this, lifting the ice cream above his head with one hand and holding Sora back with the other.

"You guys!" Kairi snapped. "Stop! Honestly!"

Sora turned, probably about to apologize, but Riku pushed him over and made him land cheek-first into the ground.

Everyone laughed except for Sora. Even Kairi. Haven't I mentioned before what lovely, kind people we are?

"What was that for?" Sora frowned while moving himself into a sitting position on the sidewalk. Weirdo. Why doesn't he stand up?

Riku took another bite of his ice cream. "For trying to take my Popsicle and butting in."

Kairi put her hands on her hips. "Okay, it's time to go now. I've got everything set up at my house and we've wasted time already!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Sora jumped up and saluted to his girlfriend flamboyantly. Riku rolled his eyes.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." She was already walking towards her house.

x

(⌒＿⌒)

x

"DIE! DIE!" I know, when you hear this, you must think something horrible is going on. Or you must think they're playing _'Modern Warfare'_, in the least.

Nope.

They're playing Mario Kart.

I think Roxas has a tendency to yell, "DIE!" whenever he plays anything, no matter what it is. _'Barbie's Shopping Spree Adventure' _included.

Sora, Roxas, and Riku were sitting in beanbag chairs in front of Kairi's monster-sized television, tapping at their GameCube controllers. Yep, Kairi has a GameCube. And an Xbox. And a PS1, PS2, and PS3. And a Nintendo 64. And a Sega. And... you get the point.

'Kairi's a girly girl,' you say. 'Why does she have these things?'

One word. One name. Sora.

If you think Kairi's in total control of the relationship, that's not completely true. She and Sora have been going out for so long - and even before that, they'd been awesome friends - that Kairi has made her room into a wonderland for the annoying brunette.

Every video game system imaginable, all jammed into one corner. That side was even painted dark blue - in contrast to the rest of the space, which was light pink.

I couldn't help but roll me eyes every time I saw it.

I mean, really? I wouldn't do that for Sora.

Suddenly I heard my brother yell out in joy. "YEAHHH!" He called, throwing the controller at Riku's head. He dodged and it hit Roxas instead. "I beat you all!"

Kairi was snuggling up against Sora (pretty impressive that he could still maneuver his car with her there) and grinned at him. "I knew you could do it," She said flirtily. I just made up a new world there. But that's how she said it. Flirtily. Or is that flirtingly?

Sora took the moment to kiss his girlfriend romantically on the lips. "You're my good luck charm."

I heard Olette gag from the bed.

"Get a room," she muttered.

"You don't have to look," Sora announced, and kissed the giggling Kairi again, probably just to annoy Olette.

Roxas rolled his eyes flamboyantly, while Riku ignored everyone and kept looking at the screen.

"Are you gonna play again or what?" My cousin asked flatly. Upset he lost.

"I'd rather retire a champion," Sora proclaimed, with Kairi's arms around his neck. Anytime those two were together was some sort of porn show.

Maybe that's an over-exaggeration. But still.

"Fine, just scared we'll beat you," Roxas pouted, sticking his tongue out at my brother, who ignored him for once. Roxas and Riku kept playing.

Olette and and Namine had been playing a party game called 'Do You Really Know Me?' while I'd been… watching. Not really doing anything. I was sitting there in my hot pants and pink shirt, kind of switching between looking at the TV screen and the cheesy sleepover game.

Well… I actually like games like that.

They're cute.

"All right," Namine nodded, pulling another stick from the jar. The game really had no point but to pull questions and have everyone answer them. I would kick ass at this game for Namine – only because I know her better than I know myself. "Gimme… the beach or the mountains?"

"Uh, beach, duh," Olette replied, playing with the buttons on her shirt.

"Nice answer."

"It was an easy one."

"This one's for Xion," Namine said as she grabbed another wooden stick, making me jump.

"Huh?"

"Do I prefer drawing or writing?"

"Drawing."

"These are too easy," Nam tossed the can of sticks at Olette.

"Gimme… skirts or jeans?" She read.

"Skirts!" I heard Kairi squeak from Sora's end of the room.

"Jeans," I replied matter-of-factly. Olette nodded to me.

"Sorry, Kai, Xion got it."

"Damn," Kairi cursed, only to be cut off by Sora kissing her again. Everyone looked away.

Olette drew another stick. "Xion hasn't asked a question yet, so this one's gonna be about her, kay?"

Anyone who was listening (as in, just me and Namine and a little bit of Kairi) grunted a reply.

"If she could kiss anyone, who would it be?"

Silence. I was hardly paying any attention, because my eyes had since drifted to the TV to watch Riku (as Bowzer) destroying Roxas (as Wario) on Mario Kart.

Namine tapped her chin. "Riku."

"Did someone say my name?" Riku said, not taking his eyes from the screen to look at who spoke.

I snapped out of my trance. "Huh?"

"The answer to the question. It's Riku. I know it is."

"What question?"

"Naw," Olette shook her head. "Why would it be Riku? I bet it's someone really candid."

"I bet it's some superstar," Kairi cut in, sitting on my brother's lap. "Like Justin Bieber! I bet it's Justin Bieber."

I had no idea what they were talking about. And I hated Justin Bieber. "WHAT are you guys saying?"

"Is this something about me?" Riku asked back at everyone, still trying to concentrate. Roxas threw a red shell at him and he blew up. "Shit," he muttered under his breath.

Roxas laughed at him.

Namine _tsk'_d and shook her head. "It's definitely Riku. I'm sure of it."

"But why?" Olette questioned, lying back on Kairi's plushy bed.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUTTTT?" I moaned and grabbed Namine's sleeve.

"If you could kiss anyone. Who it would be."

"Oh."

I could feel my face turning red and inadvertently looked at Riku to see he hadn't moved a muscle. Did he hear?

"You know what?" Kairi thought for a second. "We should play a real game."

Namine looked at the clock on her phone. "It's only 2:30pm."

"Yeah, but I've never hosted any party games before."

"So?"

"So, let's do 7 minutes in Heaven."

There was a split second of silence before Sora burst out laughing. "PFFFT HAHAHAHAH!"

"Whaaat?" Kairi moaned, touching his cheek. Christ, anytime I looked at them getting romantic I just felt sick. Who'd want to get _close_ to him? "It would be cool."

"Yeah, and then we can play spin the bottle! HAHAHA!"

"I think it's a good idea," Namine chipped in, and I thought I saw Roxas fleetingly take his eyes from the screen to look at her. They hadn't been next to each other in a while. I wonder what went down between the two of them. And then there was that time Nam begged to come into Gym with me. What if they had an argument? Already?

"There's only like 3 boys here," Olette huffed, still lying down. "It would be more fun if Axel were here."

"Why, you have a crush on Axel?" Sora chuckled. "I thought that was Roxas's thing."

"God, man, shut up!" Roxas snapped. "DIE! DIE, RIKU, DIE!" He turned his attention back to the game right away.

"No, just saying he'd make it more fun." Olette didn't flinch.

Riku hadn't really said anything for a while, but he spoke up. His voice seemed so much deeper than everyone else's. It made my heart throb. "I vote we play the game."

Everyone looked at him.

"All in favor say 'Aye'!" Kairi announced, grinning. "Aye!"

"Aye!" Namine said.

"Aye!" Sora.

"Aye." Roxas, tentatively.

"Nay," Olette muttered.

"We didn't even offer that option," Namine said, capping the cover of 'Do You Know Me?'

"That isn't a democracy." Olette opposed, frowning.

"No one said this was."

"…Aye." Riku said, breaking the argument brewing.

"Xion?" Kairi said, waiting. I was staring off into space the whole time.

"Um… I don't really—"

"Four ayes and one abstention!" Sora decreed. "I call going in with Kairi first!"

"Wait, shouldn't we clear out the closet?" Kairi began, blushing for one of the few times in her life she'd ever blushed. "It's kind of small, and uncomfortable, and I've never done—" My brother – he's actually pretty muscular, don't get me wrong – lifted Kairi up and walked over to the closet.

"Um… a little help here?" He wheezed, sounding strained. He couldn't open the door.

Haha.

Namine, who was trying hard not to die laughing, opened the door for them, and bowed. "Your luxury suite, sir,"

And then they were in the closet by themselves, and the rest of us were outside.

"I gotta say, I totally didn't see this coming when Kairi said she was gonna have a party," Olette admitted.

"None of us did," I chuckled.

"GAHH!" Roxas groaned, tossing his controller onto the ground. "HOW? How do I keep losing?"

"You'll get it eventually," Riku said, making Roxas glare at him.

"NO! I am _DONE_ with this!"

"Fine, sore loser."

Roxas got up and moved into the bed, stretching his legs. "Hey, Nam," She jumped when she heard her name coming from his mouth. They looked SO CUTE together. Sorry, had to have my fan moment there. "Take out that game so we can keep playing."

Namine nodded and took it out from the dresser, and soon they were quietly talking and asking questions to each other and chuckling.

Olette was still lying on the bed like a dead thing.

Riku was about to start up a new game for himself on Mario Kart.

"Wait," I said, sitting down next to Riku where Roxas had previously been. "Can I play?"

"Yeah, sure," He pressed two player instead. "Collaborative or competition?"

"Uh… whatever, I don't care."

I pressed 'collaborative' and we started on the Star Cup. It felt weird without Kairi and Sora there, though… and I almost felt like pressing my ear to the door to see if they were making any noise. I mean, obviously they were. But the volume on the game was too high to hear it.

Somehow my thoughts telepathically made the television go on mute – and we heard what they were doing in the closet.

There was a lot of breathing. And kissing noises. It made me wanna hurl, really.

Riku let out a sound of dissatisfaction. Maybe it was more… disgust.

"Olette!" Namine scolded, and I turned around to see Olette holding the TV remote with a grin.

…So I guess it wasn't my mind that muted the TV.

Roxas snatched the clicker from Olette and turned the sound back on.

"I hope they didn't notice," Namine said worriedly, holding the game container with the wooden sticks inside it.

Riku pressed 'start' on the TV, which caught my attention and we chose our characters (Yoshi for me, Bowzer for Riku) and started playing Mario Kart together.

We did that for a while, actually. I could see why Riku zoned out so much playing this game – it was pretty consuming. And since we were on the same team, there was no competition or yelling "DIE!" at each other. That was a plus.

"Has anyone been timing the two hotheads?" Olette questioned, and Namine looked at the clock.

"It's been eight minutes. I'll get them."

Eight minutes already? Wow.

"Can we have 14 minutes?" I heard Sora call from the closet.

"What the hell…" Roxas muttered under his breath, making Olette snicker.

"Fourteen doesn't rhyme with heaven," Namine said sadly, as if this was a big deal.

"We'll make it rhyme!" Kairi squealed. Everyone in the room gagged this time.

"Fourteen minutes with shmoreteen," Roxas said, using two of the question sticks for 'Do You Know Me?' like chopsticks.

"That doesn't even make sense," Namine frowned at him.

"It kind of does."

"Not really at all, no."

Riku and I slipped back into our secluded game of Mario Kart. When people start not making sense, that's when I tune out.

"Take the secret path!" Riku instructed. "Follow me!"

"Where?" My eyes scanned the screen to find his car, but it wasn't there.

"There," He pointed at the screen's corner, leaning into me to get a better angle.

"Right. Thanks," Our legs were touching, but I hardly noticed. There was only the feeling of warmth that wouldn't go away that came from having a good time with Riku. Kind of. This counted, right?

"I've played this way like twenty times," He grinned, leaning back on his beanbag.

"Only twenty?" I teased.

"Yes, 'only twenty'. Shoot, a blue turtleshell. I'm ahead."

"What do you do?"

"You have to come in first, I guess. The finish line's up there."

"But Wario's ahead of me."

"I'll drop a banana peel. Avoid it."

Olette cut in. "You guys sound so stupid right now."

Neither of us replied.

"Here comes the blue shell! Dropping peel now!" Riku announced urgently – and to me he sounded vaguely like a pilot captain. I replied accordingly.

"Rodger, rodger, sir. We have a 10-4 to pass target now."

"I'm hit!"

"Target slipping on peel! Overtaking him now!" Grinning widely, I slid to the side and went by Wario, winning us the Star cup with no losses.

"WOOT!" Riku cheered, and we slapped high fives.

It went on like this for… I don't know how long. But we were playing a game together and that's all that mattered. We actually went onto the flower cup and the mushroom cup and beat all of them, no contest. I know, we rock pretty hard.

We were about to go onto the Reverse Cup, in fact.

"This is the hardest one?" I asked, shaking out my hands. Riku nodded.

"Be ready."

"I think we can take 'em."

Riku was about to press down the A button when we heard Kairi and turned around. "Hey, guys. Aye number four and Abstention number 1."

"What?" Riku sounded annoyed.

"You're the only ones that haven't been in the closet yet. And you agreed to it." Kairi looked a little too happy about this. I chewed my nail, immediately nervous.

"Technically I abstained."

"But Olette declined, and you didn't _exactly_ decline."

"Kairi, we're busy here," Riku growled, pressing start and beginning the Reverse Cup.

"Not busy enough if you ask me," Sora smiled impishly, bringing on a stare from Riku.

"Riku, you agreeeed," Namine pestered.

I scowled at her. "Why don't you go in with _Roxas_?"

"I already did," She looked very proud of herself. I wonder what happened in there.

"What? Are you serious? When?" How long were Riku and I playing? It doesn't take _that_ long to finish three Cups, does it? Seriously?

"You guys. Just go. It's only seven minutes."

"I don't think we should let them out until we hear moaning," Olette suggested. Sora clapped twice.

"Grand idea!"

"You guys!" Kairi snapped. "Seven minutes is fine. It's not like they're madly in love or anything... So we can't force them to do something bad."

Riku and I shared a glance – and I actually _saw_ Riku's ears turn red as he looked away. SERIOUSLY! I _saw_! Riku blushed!

These guys must have been seriously embarrassing him.

Sora got up and dragged Riku to his feet.

"Come on, buddy! Get up! Get UPP!"

Olette helped Sora bring Riku over to the door, and Namine pulled me to my feet (it didn't take nearly as much effort).

Before we knew it, both of us were jammed together into the closet. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Stuff was on either side of us – clothes, mostly, but also some boxes filled with probably just more clothes. It forced our chests together.

Well, Riku was a lot taller than me, so… it forced the top of my chest into the middle of his chest.

We heard something being put in front of the door from outside and the game being unpaused.

"Seven minutes, starting now!" Kairi called above the noise.

Riku jiggled the doorknob and tried pushing on it. I tried helping him – but it wouldn't budge. Christ, what did they have holding that thing closed?

We spent ten minutes not saying anything. It was probably more like 30 seconds, but I couldn't tell. My eyes flicked up for a second – only to find that I couldn't see Riku's face at all. It was that dark.

My cheeks felt hot and suddenly I was glad you couldn't see anything in there… you know, so he couldn't tell I was blushing.

Both of us stood there, shifting uncomfortably.

I flinched when I felt something brush up against my upper thigh.

"…Sorry." Riku murmured, pulling his hand back and jamming it into his pocket. Damn these hot pants. If only I wasn't wearing them.

I didn't say anything in reply to him, mostly because I was afraid of my voice cracking or sounding too high or something.

Nervously, I leaned back to try and sit down on some boxes – only to make some of them that were stacked fall down and make a really _really_ loud crashing noise. A couple of them landed on me and made me fall forward – which of course knocked Riku to the ground and left both of us buried under a mound of boxes.

I heard laughter outside. Damn them. Damn this all.

I also heard Riku mutter some profanity under his breath, which quickened. "Will you listen to them?" He murmured. His breath smelled really good for some reason. "Do they take pleasure in this?"

The only thing I could seem to say was, "I'm so sorry!"

He turned his head and tried to push some of the stuff off of us. "Help me with this."

Together we got some of the cardboard boxes and clothes off, and were able to stand up again.

I think we passed a couple minutes just sitting there. I kept listening to him breathing and hoped he couldn't hear my heartbeat _too_ loudly.

"So," he began, his voice still a whisper. I thought I saw the dull outline of him running his hand through his hair. "I have… I mean, I've got tickets to a Karaoke Center. Two. If you… you know, if you wanna go."

I stared straight ahead, my mouth dry. He was asking me this in a closet?

"Yeah," I managed to get out. "I'd love to. I love Karaoke."

"…Cool."

Awkward.

My eyes wandered around the closet, and I could see his hand by his leg, in a fist. It was shaking slightly. Was he angry or something? I mean, I was kind of pissed at Kairi and the others, but not THAT angry. I just got asked on a date.

Er… an activity. Riku wouldn't ask me on a date.

"Seven minutes up!" Sora sang out, and something got removed from the front of the door and Riku and I were let out, gasping for fresh air.

"How was it?" Olette asked, yawning.

"Yeah, how _was_ it?" My brother waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously. I glared at him.

"We didn't do much," Riku looked from person to person in the group, and sat back down in his beanbag chair. He looked kind of relieved.

He and Roxas started playing Mario Kart again, and I took my place on the bed and continued to do what I had been doing in the beginning. Zoning out and kind of playing the sleepover game with Namine and Olette.

For some reason, despite what happened in the closet, the rift between Riku and me seemed a lot wider than usual.

* * *

YAYY!

I made my deadline! I expected I'd take a lot longer, but surprisingly, I can buckle down and WRITE sometimes! :3

Sometimes.

Ah, yesh, anyway... I hope you liked it. It appears Riku and Xion have a little get-together planned. I mean, if you want to call it that. You could call it... a date.

But, no, no, it's not a date, exactly. Riku asked her without the intentions of it being a date. So here we are, chapter 12, and something actually happening. WHOAAA! Took long enough, if you ask me.

I hope you enjoyed it. I was disappointed with the reviews last time (*siigh*) but I understand that sometimes you guys can be just as busy as me or whatever. So it's fine. ^-^

JUST REVIEW THIS TIME PLEASE! I can't believe I wrote such a wonderful chapter for you guys! And what do I get? *sniffle* How can you leave me like this? Be sure to suggest any improvements you'd like me to make in your reviews, so I can give you a more enjoyable story experience! :D

_WILL Xion go to the Karaoke Center with Riku?_

_WILL we find out what went on between Roxas and Namine?_

_WILL the Ice Cream shop go back to normal?_

_WILL the next volume of Me and My Brothers be put online?_

_AND most of all, WHO are those three friendly but mysterious girls?_

-Sono ^-^;

EDIT:

I forgot to say! This chapter is dedicated to "Mario Kart Love Song"! It's a real thing, and very sweet. I hope you look it up! :D


	13. Chapter 13

Lucky number 13. Unlucky number 13. People call 13 lot of things. I call it: My next chapter.

Aren't I poetic?

*chews pencil*

I chew my pencils a lot because I think the computer is for writing more than pencils are. At home, that is. I cherish pencils at school.

Ahhh, anyway. Here we have Riku and Xion going off on their first get-together. What may this begin? Xion's dad is home, mind you. There will be no, "Hey, let's go on back to my house~", so throw those thoughts in the garbage now. Sorry to disappoint you.

I got some reviews early, so I'm starting this chapter early. Which MAY mean I get in IN early, probably not. My friend went as L for Halloween. Yes, that L. Death Note, the detective L. He was so adorable I squealed.

I was nothing. I didn't go. But I'm Link next year!

*sadface*

Thanks to those of you who reviewed, especially those with any advice! I'm working hard on this story and its coming out to be better than I thought! ^-^

Though I did see a story with 500 reviews and that made me sad. That's like 10 times what I have.

x3

* * *

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.:Xion's POV:.

.

Sora was sprawled out on the kitchen table. Seriously. And for some reason my dad found nothing wrong with this. It _was_ hot, though, and it just so happened that our air conditioner was broken.

Since dad, the mechanic of the house, couldn't seem to find anything wrong with it, we were stuck for the day dealing with the blaring heat. Crap. Cold I can deal with. All I need to do is grab a blanket and I'm fine.

Heat, however... Drove me mad. I can_not _stand heat.

Dad was on the couch reading the paper – averagely. I was enjoying breakfast standing up thanks to my brother.

"It's SOOOO hot!" He complained, letting his tongue loll out of his mouth like a dog. Sora resembled a dog in many ways, actually.

I opened my mouth to say something mean to him – mean, because I was still pissed about yesterday. Forcing me into girly clothes _and_ shoving me in a closet with Riku? Not cool. – but was cut off by Dad. His voice came from the "family" room, a room that he incidentally spent more time in than the rest of the "family".

"You and Xion should do something outside," He suggested, and I heard the paper ripple. "You can't spend all day in here doing nothing."

"I was gonna get dressed in like five minutes," I muttered, finishing my waffle and tossing the paper plate I used in the garbage. "I'm going somewhere with a friend today, dad!" It was important that my father heard this, so I yelled extra-loud to make sure he heard. Sometimes he complained of being 'hard of hearing', which wasn't too difficult to believe in his case.

"That sounds good. Sora, you should get out too!"

"I'll just hang with Kairi or something," Sora said dismissively, like he wasn't going to do it – even though he did it every day and today wouldn't be any different.

"You spend too much time with that girl," Our dad muttered to himself, probably a little louder than he intended it to be. "I'm worried something may happen."

I rolled my eyes. Christ, Dad. Open your eyes. They've been going out for years. Maybe he's been gone too long to know these things… but _I_ wasn't going to be the one to blab about what Sora and Kairi do in closets in their spare time.

I trotted upstairs, my hair bobbing, to change into some good clothes.

Today Riku and I were going to the karaoke house. This was the first time Riku had ever invited me to anything, understand. I was nervous. The thought that he and I were kind of actually friends now was really…weird. But good weird. Exciting. Woot.

I slipped on my favorite shirt (the one I thought I looked best in) and just as I was putting on a pair of baggy black jeans (NOT hot pants, NOT skinny jeans) my phone went off on my dresser. The vibration was muffled by a pillow that I'd apparently accidentally dumped there.

I reached across my bed and grabbed it.

**Ready when you are. ;D**

**From: Riku**

**To: Me**

I grinned and typed up a reply before buttoning my pants and going downstairs.

**Out the door in a sec.**

**From: Me**

**To: Riku**

"I'm leaving now, Dad!" I called, hoping he heard me, because he didn't say much back.

The second I stepped out the door I regretted wearing my jeans. It was horrible. I could already feel my hair becoming unnaturally frizzy thanks to the level or humidity in the air.

Yeah, my hair frizzes easily. I'd been trying to get used to it, but it hadn't really been working. Frizzy hair is a difficult thing to get used to, and it just made me feel hotter and sweatier in the summer.

Twilight Town seemed especially busy today, actually, with cars packed up on the streets and honking their horns, heading in the direction of the beach of course. No question of that. Some kids I thought I recognized from school were hanging around on the sidewalk.

I actually felt kind of superior to them, now that I had somewhere to go and they didn't. Their presence still gave the street an air of energy, even though they weren't actually doing anything but standing around.

In fact, the city seemed more lively today than I'd seen it for a while. It's like it had to sink in for everybody that it was actually summertime before they began celebrating.

"Outta the way!" The sound of wheels on pavement rattled behind me and I stumbled away just in time to see some skateboarders rush past me recklessly. Jeez, why am I so clumsy? I'm always tripping over my own feet and everything.

As they skated past I recognized Seifer and his gang – upperclassmen from school. Annoying upperclassmen.

"Move it or lose it, you know?" Rai, the dense musclehead of the group, said – adding to the whole 'rude' theme they had goin' on.

They were all Sora's age – except for the small one. Vivi, was it? – And my brother told me very well that none of them had an outstandingly good reputation for following the rules or being kind to others. I'd seen them smoking in an alley more than once. Not a fan of them.

Vivi, who seemed out of place as a short kid wearing a black hoodie (as far as I knew, he always wore this with the hood up and tightened) in the middle of a sea of short-sleeved shirts and shorts, passed me a rude gesture as he quickly skated past. Meaning, he flipped me off. Buttface.

I waited for them to be pretty far away before I continued. Didn't wanna catch up to them.

I kept walking. So I was going to the Karaoke House. Huh. Riku didn't really seem like the singing type to me, or the type of guy who'd purchase tickets so someone else could hang out and watch him sing. Or sing with him. Would we be singing together? Hm.

Now that's a thought.

I wasn't especially the type of person who liked to sing, either, even though I spent a few years in my elementary school's chorus. But anyone can join an _elementary_ school chorus. I can carry I tune… I mean, I'm not HORRIBLE.

But… Riku? Seriously? Him singing?

I don't even know why I accepted the invitation. It was completely out of the blue. Riku had never asked me to go anywhere before, and now we're going to a Karaoke House. I mean, yeah it was under some pressure. What was I supposed to say when we were smashed up in a closet together? "Sorry, no, I can't. It would be too awkward." Doesn't get much more awkward than the position we were in.

And we were kind of becoming friends, weren't we?

Riku and me. Friends. Huh, weird.

And then I was passing by the ice cream store where Axel used to work – and bumping into someone.

"Whoa!" A voice chuckled, and the someone pushed me back with one hand.

I blushed. "Oh, jeez! Sorry!" See? Even the most basic things, like walking… I just can't handle it.

"Hey, no problem." It was a blonde kid who looked older than me – everyone was older than me. Ugh! – Probably fifteen, mayybe sixteen. He had a plain yellow shirt with the Nike logo on the front, and light blue jeans that gave him an air of "normal". Very normal, actually.

A slight smile was printed on his face and his eyes just seemed… Honest, somehow.

"Auugh! What's with this!" And that was Demyx's voice. I turned around and saw that he was standing outside the order window to the ice cream store – WHICH, mind you, was still blocked up by a black piece of paper and a note saying 'please order inside'.

The blonde dude was standing close enough to him that I assumed the two were hanging out together.

"Uhh… Demyx?" I said, sounding worried for the poor guy's health.

"What?" He sounded mad and pouty like a little kid as he turned to me.

"You… you have to order inside."

Demyx, never the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, look at the note and jumped as if he hadn't noticed it there before. He composed himself quickly. "I've always ordered here and I will order here today! Why's this whole note thing about anyhow?"

"Yeah," The blonde dude said, glancing at the window seriously. "Really, we're all about traditions and stuff. This is messing us up bigtime."

"I don't think anyone knows," I replied, swallowing. Maybe I have a social phobia. "And sorry for bumping into you."

"It's fine, happens all the time."

His cool attitude and forgiveness just seemed to make me more embarrassed for some reason.

"Tidus," Demyx pleaded, whining a little. I realized he was addressing the blonde guy. "Can you go inside?"

"Me?" Tidus frowned, still looking at the black paper-covered window. "Why me? Why not you?"

"Because. Just because."

"Lazy butt."

Demyx moaned again and collapsed into a sitting position on the pavement. "I need an ice cream sandwich, man!"

The dude turned to face me and put out his hand. "Sorry about him. I'm Tidus. Sounds like you've met Demyx."

I nodded and gave him a limp handshake – which consisted of him squeezing my hand really tightly and shaking it once, and me doing absolutely nothing but pulling my hand away from the vice when he was done. "Yeah, we've met. I'm Xion."

Again, see? Just like that. All my introductions are awkward.

"Xion, huh? Nice to meet you."

A large group of teens I didn't recognize jostled past us, bumping me a little to the side.

"Fine, I'll _skip_ the ice cream," Demyx complained. I looked at him and scoffed.

"Just because you can't get anyone to go inside for you?"

"Yeah, it's a big deal!"

"Whatever." I took out my phone and glanced at the clock on it, wincing. "Crap. Sorry, I have somewhere to be."

"Where?" Tidus asked, which I didn't find creepy at all. It was just the way he asked it. Anybody else would have sounded like a stalker.

"Karaoke house," I replied without thinking.

"Sweet. Have fun," Tidus gave me a little wave, and Demyx looked up.

"Bye, Xion!" He called as I started walking.

.

(≧ω≦)

.

I stood outside the brightly colored Karaoke building and let out a sigh. Deep breaths, Xion. You can do this. This is NOT a date. Okay. One more breath…

This would be the first time Riku and I are totally alone.

I walked in.

The main lobby, although kind of small, was very homey and had a counter in the corner with a happy looking lady behind it. This room, too, was painted with the same bright colors from the outside.

I approached the desk.

"Would you like to purchase tickets?" She asked rapidly, tapping at the keys on a computer. "For how long? What machine?"

"Uh… No, I'm here with another party," I stammered. I dug into my pocket for the crinkled ticket and slid it onto the tabletop.

"Ahh, yes, right down the hall, to the left. Room ten. You have one hour." She ripped a section off of my ticket off and stamped my hand with something before allowing me to go down the wide hallway. This place had a futuristic kind of feel to it, which seemed to fit it perfectly.

When I came to the intersection in the hallway, I turned left and immediately saw Riku standing there…

With Sora and Kairi.

HUH!

What were they doing here?

"Oh, Xion!" Riku waved, signaling me over. "Glad you're here!"

"Ohhh, this is gonna be too fun!" Kairi squealed, gripping my brother's shoulder excitedly. I stared at them all blankly.

…False alarm, people. This was not 'Riku and me alone time'.

"I thought the time was gonna be up before you got here," Sora huffed irritably.

"Well, she's here, so don't complain." Riku muttered. "All right. So everyone made it. It's two or three people to a room, though. And we can't leave any of us alone. Should we draw straws to see who goes with who, or something?"

"I don't see how we can draw straws without straws," Sora mumbled. He has a point there.

"I wanna be with Sora, though," Kairi said, hugging even tighter and more protectively to her boyfriend. I rolled my eyes.

"I guess that means me and Xion have to pair up. See you guys in an hour," Riku gave a little wave and opened the door behind him, while Kairi and Sora went into the door across the hall from us.

The karaoke rooms were awesome, I will admit. It was smallish, which explained the 2 to 3 people rule, but comfortable looking couches lined the chrome walls. A desk sat in the middle with a stack of catalogues and a remote. A pretty big flat-screen TV was up against one wall, the microphones next to it on a mount.

Riku sat down in one of the cushy couches, letting out a breath. "All right. You wanna go first?"

I blinked. "Where'd you get these tickets?" I also wanted to ask, 'why'd you invite me,' but I held back.

He shrugged, leaning over to unzip his sweatshirt and take it off. "Someone gave them to me to have some fun, and I just thought Sora and Kairi and you would like it."

Oh. He probably just invited me because Sora was going, and he had an extra ticket. That just makes me feel _all_ warm and fuzzy inside.

I fidgeted my tongue, upset.

Riku stood up, stretching his arm. "All right, guess I'll go first then." He opened the catalogue, which probably weighed about ten pounds, and shuffled through the pages.

I looked over his shoulder. "What are you gonna sing?"

"How about this one?" Riku pointed to one of the codes in the 'Rock' section. I read the title.

"_Pain_? By Three Days Grace?"

He looked at me, frowning. "Yeah, I love this song."

I did too, really. But he needed to sing something a little less depressing. "Try something happier," I grinned, reaching around him to flip over to another section. "How about… this one?"

"Saltwater Room?" Riku read aloud, sounding disgusted. "What? I'm not singing Owl City's girl music!"

"Hey!" I snapped. "Owl City is the perfect combination of techno and nostalgic, mild singing!"

"I'm not a mild singer!"

"What kind of singer are you?"

He hesitated. "I… I dunno, like…" He turned the page. "It calls for two singers at the same time, anyway!"

"We could just sing it together then," I suggested, smiling impishly.

"Maybe later."

I watched as Riku turned to the Expert section of the catalogue.

"I can't sing any of that," I muttered.

"You don't have to. Oh, here's a good one. 'Gone Forever'."

Again, I stood on my toes and poked my head over his shoulder to read. "It's another Three Days Grace one."

"Are you gonna reject this, too?" He teased, picking up the remote to plug in the code.

"Fine, fine. Sing whatever you want," I sat huffily down into the couch to watch.

The TV turned on and the intro music began, and Riku picked up the microphone and flashed me a smile before he started singing. My heart throbbed.

Surprisingly, Riku wasn't a bad singer either. This song really seemed to suit him… Even the nature of it was perfect for him. He knew the words really well, too… and when the song dropped the F bomb I winced (I know, I'm a baby. I don't swear much) but Riku sang right past it. I blushed at my reaction. It's just a word, anyway.

I was staring at his facial expressions as he sang, too. Yeah, yeah, I'm weird. But it was fun to watch.

"I feel so… much better, now that you're gone forever. I tell myself… that I don't miss you at alllll…." ((A/N Lol singing.))

I could tell he wasn't seriously trying to sing that well, more like talk-singing, but when the song picked up and the singer's voice got intense he looked pretty into it. I still liked it better when the song slowed down and got quieter (which was like, hardly ever) because that part seemed to suit Riku more.

There was nothing good about his singing, but it wasn't bad either.

When he came to the end of the song, I clapped. "Bravo!"

He bowed playfully. "Thank you, thank you."

"_Your score is 62. Better luck next time, beginner,_" the computer droned in a robotic voice.

"It scores you?" I gasped.

"Ahh… yeah. Maybe I shouldn't have done that song. Fail."

"Oh, but it was good. I liked it," The words came out without me thinking. Hope they didn't sound too clingy.

"Thanks," Riku smiled at me and held out the microphone. "What do you wanna sing?"

I took my turn shuffling through the catalogue.

"There's so many to choose from!"

"Well we have an hour," Riku leaned back into the couch, chuckling. Next door we could vaguely hear Sora and Kairi singing something really loudly.

Feeling competitive, I narrowed my eyes and flipped back over to the "difficult" section, picking a classic by Dragonforce – the loudest band I could think of that I knew the words to. "Let's see if we can beat them?"

"Beat who?" Riku questioned me, his mouth slowly quirking into a smile. "Sora?"

"Let's sing this one. You know Dragonforce?"

"All too well," He replied while standing up to grab the other mike. "We gonna duet this one?"

I nodded, grinning broadly, and punched in the code.

We both sang as loudly as we could… for the entire 8 minutes the song lasted. We also threw in some amazing air guitar solos and jumped on top of the table for one section of it.

So fun it should be a CRIME. Sora and Kairi, eat your hearts out.

My throat was sore by the last 3 minutes of the tune, but I kept singing. Riku hadn't stopped yet – I mean, I couldn't just leave him to do the rest all by himself. That would be heartless.

After that one, we sang another Dragonforce song together. And then Riku chose a song by a band I'd never heard of called Relient K for us to sing. I really liked them.

"What? Who makes a song ten seconds long?" I laughed. We'd stopped for a couple minutes to talk about that band and which songs were the best, by Riku's opinion. Riku and I apparently had very identical musical likes. Except he wasn't a fan of Owl City… but I'd change that soon enough. (Mwahahaha)

"Relient K does, I guess," Riku responded while absently flipping through the catalogue. "OH here's a good one. Beautiful Love, The Afters."

"I'll only sing that if we can do Saltwater Room after," I teased. But I was also serious.

"You can't make me."

"Then we won't sing _that_ song!"

"Fine!"

I was kneeling on the floor on one side of the small table, and Riku was mimicking my position by the other side as we tried to choose a song. "How about Billy Joel?" I asked, pointing.

"Nickelback first. Wait, no, Eminem's better."

I sighed. By the time we were done arguing, our hour would be up and we'd have to leave. Strangely, though, Riku didn't seem to be taking it as arguing. He was smiling the entire time and his eyes were sparkling as if he were enjoying it.

Yeah, I notice weird things. Riku'd probably be creeped out above everything if he found out how I examined him so carefully. It's not like I was _trying_ to, it's just something I _did._

"Mmm… maybe you should just choose the next one," I muttered, resting my chin on the table. Riku looked at me funny.

"What, you don't like Nickelback? We can sing whatever you want."

"Saltwater Room."

"No."

"Fireflies."

"No."

"Strawberry Avalanche?"

"Nope."

"Why not, huh?" I stuck my bottom lip out in a pouty face, something Kairi did often to Sora. I usually found it completely dumb and flirty.

"Because you expect me to _sing_ those songs, too."

"You can just hum along or something. Be the backup!"

Riku scowled at me – his expression reading, 'seriously?' "The backup in that song is a girl's voice!"

"So?" I grinned a little and snatched the book from Riku's hands.

"So I'm not a girl!"

"You hit the high notes pretty well..."

"Gosh, I'm flattered."

"Why don't we sing Yellow together? By Coldplay?" I'd try to make him sing my song again later, just you wait. I hadn't given up yet. He just needed a break or something.

Riku smiled and nodded, a compromise finally reached. "That's a good one. You know, Xion, I never knew you had such awesome taste in music."

"I never knew you had such a melodious tenor," I taunted right back, making Riku laugh while punching the code into the TV.

I especially liked singing that song with Riku. It was slow, and I liked it better when he sang slowly. He sounded really cute, like he was younger or something – or like he was concentrating really hard on sounding different. Hehe. It was fun to listen to.

When the song was almost over I realized we'd stopped singing loudly – and Sora and Kairi could be heard across the hall, having more fun than us no doubt.

We immediately punched in a loud dance-y tune and sang that to beat them (again with the on-the-table thing) and cracked up into a fit of laughter at the end to find Sora and Kairi playing an even _louder_ song.

The heat was on.

"Where's the volume on this thing?" I questioned, inspecting the TV before we plugged in the next song. We'd chosen In the End by Linkin Park to add a little forceful rap to the mix. "We need to get louder."

"I dunno, maybe on the remote?" Riku picked up the clicker to inspect it – then made a short muttering noise to indicate he'd found it. I heard a clicking noise. "Right, it's louder now."

"We're so gonna beat them!"

After that song (which Riku seemed to know the words of better than me, by the way) we went back to shuffling through the book and listening to our friends next door cranking up their own music.

We laid on our backs on the two separate couches for a few minutes. "We should stop wasting time," I mumbled, one hand draped over my eyes.

"But my throat hurts…" Riku let out a fake little cough.

"Don't be such a baby."

"You're laying down, too," Next thing I knew Riku was reaching over to the table and picking up one of those massive catalogues with one hand – and throwing it at me.

"GAH!" I shrieked when it hit and knocked the wind out of me. Riku snickered.

I pondered giving him the silent treatment, but decided not to and just opened the book instead.

I ended up choosing a few country songs, and I sang a Tim McGraw one by myself because Riku refused to join – but just as I started up another song by Tim Riku picked up the other mike and jumped in as backup.

At first I was irritated that he wouldn't stop flamboyantly singing in a western accent, but I eventually started doing it, too. We picked another bluegrass and ended up pretending to be hillbillies. No offense to any hillbilly people, but you're pretty fun to imitate. Just saying.

"_Your score is 31. Better luck next time, beginner_." The computer droned. We'd failed pretty hard because, 1, it's hard to sing in a western accent, and 2, we were laughing so hard at the end we couldn't speak any more.

"Can't…." I wheezed with giggles, coughing and rolling around, "…Can't breathe…!"

"Hahahaha! Ahh… too funny!" Riku, too, was doubled up with laughter.

We spent a pretty long time like that. People tell me my laughter is contagious – and if this didn't prove it, nothing will. Whenever I stopped laughing about how stupid we were I'd start to grab the remote and randomly begin laughing again, which set Riku into even_ more_ laughter…

It was an endless cycle. An inescapable conundrum. We were going to die here.

Suddenly I heard a phone ringing and both of us somehow immediately stopped. Ah! The cycle was broken!

"Where's that…. Ringing coming from?" I was still out of breath. Riku was too, apparently, because I could only hear his huffing and puffing as he pointed to the wall.

Oh. What do you know, a telephone I never noticed before. I stood shakily to my feet and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"This is the front desk, you have five minutes remaining in your time period," The rapid speaking lady spoke on the other line, making me frown. "Would you like an extension? For how long?"

I turned around and covered up the phone with one hand. "Extension?" I mouthed to Riku. He took out his cell phone, looked at the time, and muttered a profane word.

I'll take that as a no. "Uh, no thanks. But thanks."

Click. Uh… okay… she hung up.

Riku stood up and jammed his phone in his pocket. "Um, sorry," he said, grimacing. "I really gotta run now. Tell Sora and Kairi I left early, all right?"

"Aw, okay," I held back from doing that pouty thing again as Riku opened the door. "Thanks for inviting me, though. It was really fun."

"See ya, Xion," And then Riku did the unthinkable. He hugged me.

Really! He did! He hugged me. It was a casual thing, actually, like he did it without really thinking. Like he did it to every stranger he passed on the street for all he cared.

At that point it didn't matter to me even if he'd hugged ten hobos just that morning. Riku was hugging ME! _ME_. Not Kairi, not Namine, not Olette, not anyone else. And it was amazing. It felt like a million years, but it was only about a second I'd guess. One of those really quick hugs.

If Riku thought it was amazing (which he probably didn't) he didn't show it in the least. Right as the hug ended he was turning away with a little wave, not facing me, and closing the door.

What just happened?

I stood blankly for a while.

Someone knocked on the door, making me jump and swing it open excitedly.

Oh. Just Sora.

"Hey, where's Riku?" He asked, frowning.

"Oh, he had to leave early."

I hoped my voice didn't shake or anything. Jeez, why was this such a big deal? That was the kind of hug you could get doled out to you from a vending machine or something worthless.

But it was also awesome.

"Awww, bummer! I wanted to compare scores!" My brother moaned, just as Kairi came out of their room.

"Well, that was fun," she smiled.

"Riku and I were _SO_ louder than you two," I said, sticking my tongue out and snapping out of my trance.

"Nuh uh!" Sora snapped.

"Yuh huh!"

x

(⌒＿⌒)

x

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~:Riku's POV:~

.

My heart was racing. I seriously had to get home. _Now_.

Shit, I knew I was terrible at timing things. Why'd I even bother to do this? When he gave me the tickets and told me to "have some fun," that wasn't what he had in mind. And I knew it. He doubtlessly thought some more girls would be factored into the equation.

So I'm terrible at timing things, yet I set this up anyway. It was time for a new dose right then, and I wasn't about to freak out on Xion in the Karaoke Room. Not Xion, of all people.

Hey, what can I say? I was worried she'd find out.

It's like that song by Relient K that we sang together…

––She was a beautiful singer, by the way. Very average but also so cute. The entire time I could only think about what it would be like to make out with her on that couch.

Shoot, see? I'm like a rapist-in-the-making. Jeezus.

…I digress. As I was saying, it's like that song by Relient K we sang together. 'Who I Am Hates Who I've Been'.

Except, in my case, it's more like… who I am hates who I still am _and_ who I've been. It's like an extra booby prize! Hooray!

I passed by the Ice Cream shop and saw Seifer's gang messing things up there, as usual. Nothing different in that situation. I didn't wanna get mixed up with them so I kept walking, taking deep breaths. God, how I hated Seifer and his people. All they did was screw things up everywhere and keep the drug market up and running.

I checked my phone clock again and picked up the pace.

Almost there. The buildings were reduced to slight blurs around me as I kept running, pushing past all the people hanging around on the sidewalk. I thought I heard one of them call my name, but I ignored them and ran onward.

Home! I opened and slammed the door quickly after stepping in. Namine's familiar voice rang out from her room upstairs.

"How was it?"

"Fine. Where's my pills?"

"That's why you left early?" She seemed disappointed from her voice. It made me smirk. "Why are you so suddenly into taking them right on time? You weren't like that before."

"I dunno. Where are they?"

"Calm down," I heard her trotting downstairs, and she passed me to go into the kitchen. "Top cupboard. You didn't do anything with Xion?"

"No. Jeez, Namine, why do you keep asking me that?" I stretched up to grab the white bottle and took two of the blue pills from inside, as prescribed.

"I just want to know. I think she likes you."

"Ha, ha," I scowled, putting the meds back. "Where's mom?"

"Work. Dad, too. They said they'd be home in a half hour."

"Cool," I sat down absentmindedly on the couch and started humming something. I think it was one of the songs Xion sang earlier. Dang, I wish I could have stayed. I wonder what she's doing now.

"Grades are coming in soon. For school."

"Mmm."

I wonder if I could get Xion to go somewhere with me tomorrow - without it looking weird, I mean. But where would we go? I don't even know if I really like her.

I _like_ her, but do I _like_ her like her? Now there's a question. I didn't want her to get mixed up with _him_, though. Even Namine wasn't involved with that, and I didn't want her to be.

What was that hug all about, though? I hug Kairi like that all the time. It's not like it's serious - but I'd never _dreamed_ of doing that to Xion. Kind of random of me, there. Probably just me being impulsive again or something.

Namine cut into my thoughts, leaning over me from behind. "You suuure you didn't do anything with Xion?"

"_Yes_, Nam! Drop it already!"

* * *

OWOWOWO!

Chapter 13 is done! Hooray!

Here's a real fun one: I finished writing the story and this ending thing, but my hands slipped on the keys as I was typing the last words and accidentally pressed an elaborate key combination that closed the window without saving. And then, just was I was like, "Shit!" and I was going to rewrite the whole thing, parental controls logged me off of the computer. This was last night. I know, I'm a grown high school student with parental controls on her computer. I'm just a real winner, that's all.

Ahh, anyway. Sorry if my chapters start taking longer to post (this one didn't take too long, right?) school's really loading me up and, to top it off, I ran out of virus protection.

SO, being on even the smallest and sweetest of sites puts my computer at deadly risk. I got a terrible virus already and had to use my backup protection - but that doesn't automatically scan. Like, to catch a virus, you have to open its icon and manually MAKE it scan for you. It works then, but it's like a really lazy employee.

Lol, so I'm sick again. It isn't allergies this time. I hope I'm better by Thanksgiving!

By the way, REVIEW! Now what you've read my ramblings, please do the kind thing and tell me how much you liked it or how terrible it was! *save break*

It still makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see you guys reviewing! Get into the Thanksgiving spirit! Unless you're of Native American descent, of course, in which case you wouldn't have to celebrate Thanksgiving if you didn't want to. I mean, anyone who doesn't want to celebrate Thanksgiving can...

...Moving on! We found out a little bit more about Riku. How did you like the new characters that were introduced recently? It's always great to add more people.

_WILL we see Demyx and Tidus again?_

_WILL Xion get invited somewhere by Riku?_

_WILL Seifer and the gang cause any more trouble?_

_WILL Dad get with the program?_

_WILL Riku sing Owl City?_

_AND most of all... WHY am I listening to Opera music right now?_

-Sono ^-^;


	14. Chapter 14

Guess what? *giggle giggle*

Guess what, guess what? Oh, you'll never guess. I'll just tell you. If you insist.

Today, on this fine day, I bring to you a chapter in Riku's point of view. :D *grin*

Questions will be answered! Things will happen! Plotlines will be pushed! Heads will explode!

It's Thanksgiving Break, so expect something in nice and early! Yayy, so excited! Thanks to the latest reviewers, too! You guys are prompt and stuff, lol. I really appreciate it. :3

* * *

.

~:Riku's POV:~

.

My phone went off and woke me up at 4am. I didn't pick it up.

When Namine came bursting in a few minutes later, I had to pay attention.

"Riku! You'll never guess what happened!"

"At four in the morning?" I moaned, rolling over and clutched my pillow like it was my only lifeline to the summer oversleeping I _should_ be getting.

"Yes! It's about Roxas!"

"What? Ughhnn… no, never mind, I don't care."

"I want to ask him on a date."

"Yay for you."

"No, Riku, I need your help," She came up to the bedside and put her hand on my shoulder, turning me over to face her. "Please. I think there's something wrong. He hasn't seemed right."

I blinked at her and moaned as she proceeded to make that really sad face – the one that _always_ worked on me.

"Riku… You're my brother."

Augh, that one got me every time. I rubbed my face tiredly. "Fine. Fine. What do you want me to do."

"Thank you thank you thank youuu!" My stepsister grinned, dancing around my messy room in her light blue fleece pajamas. "You need to help me figure this date out. When should I ask him? I mean, should I do it at all?"

"Nobody's doing anything this early…" Namine turned and frowned at me as I nudged her towards the door. "Please go to bed. I'll help you in the morning."

"Fine. But you promise, right? Promise to help me? I'm worried about him."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll help with your boyfriend or whatever," my voice cracked – hey, I was tired – as I spoke, and Namine nodded at me. She was smiling. Well, at least I can make her happy.

Not like I'm the relationship king or anything. Just look at me and Xion. Woo, really acted on that one.

I just ditched her two days ago at the Karaoke house and hadn't seen her since. Bad sign. She hadn't texted me either. Also a bad sign. It's not like I'd been in a _real_ relationship before, with a girl that_wasn't_ a total whore for every boy she ever met.

How was I supposed to help anyone else with their feelings when I suck at handling my own crap? Whatever. Namine trusted me. More than she should have, but she still trusted me anyway.

I had to sort out all of this at some point.

I was just pulling the warm, warm blanket over my head to go back to sleep when my phone went off yet again.

Damn, do they have some timing. I turned around, reached for the phone and took the call.

"Hel-_LO_?" I hissed, making the second syllable of the word especially harsh.

"Gooood morning, sleepy head," The voice of Larxene on the other like tittered. I buried my face in the pillow. "We need you. Can you come?"

"It's too early.."

"Yeah, well consider this an emergency, hm?" Titter, titter.

"What's wrong?"

"Everyone's getting suspicious that the snooper is gonna find us and report to the authorities or whatever. Same guy from before. We trust you to find him and take care of him more than anyone."

"I'm flattered."

"You're welcome~!" Hung up.

Wow. So they expected me to get out of bed at four in the morning. And go to meet them. To find and "dispose of" some guy that I don't even know.

I angrily pushed myself out from under the covers and dug some clothes out of my drawers to get ready. Blackmail can be a terrible thing.

I chose a white t-shirt with a black hoodie, gray-blue jeans and a flashlight, just in case. It was the summer, but still pretty chilly and dark by the ocean early in the morning. It would probably start getting lighter by 5:30, but I couldn't stumble around blindly until then.

I went out the door and shut it quietly.

Couldn't wake up Nam, Dad _or_ Mom. The females in the house tended to wake up at the slightest noise. Maybe Dad's snoring would muffle any sound I make.

After going down the stairs I hesitated a moment – and decided to grab the house key from the hook on the whitewashed wall.

I checked to make sure my phone was in my pocket before slipping on my sneakers and creeping out the door.

It _was_ pretty dark outside. I flicked on the flashlight immediately when I was out of view of the house and started walking.

Okay. So I had to find and "get rid of" some guy that was snooping around where we didn't want him to be snooping. _Please_ don't let it be the "get rid of" that I think they mean. Maybe they just wanted me to divert him or something.

Fat chance.

How did they even know there was someone looking for them? Maybe if they just didn't do bad stuff in the first place, they wouldn't have to worry…

Sigh.

I had to walk the long way to the beach, unfortunately. I wasn't about to be using the tram so early in the morning. Did it even run at this time? Jeez.

It was too early to be doing this.

Surprisingly, I should have felt scared or something. But I didn't. I just felt… nothing. I wasn't even mad any more. It was weird.

I decided to think about other things and I kept walking along the sidewalk, holding the flashlight steady against the dark ground.

Xion. Hmm... I liked to think she was the only sane person in my life, but that wasn't true. Sora, Namine, Kairi… all of them were sane. It's me that wasn't. Would she forgive me for running off on her a couple days ago?

How would I sort things out?

I could already picture the two of us. Yeah… how great would that be? And we'd be together all the time…

"How'd you learn to masturbate without hands, Riku?"

I jumped, almost dropping the flashlight. I knew that voice. "Paine?"

"Omg!" The voice of Rikku, only the most annoying girl on the planet, squealed. "Did you see the expression on his face? Sooo cute!"

I turned to face the two of them, the frown on my face probably barely visible in the dark.

"I won't ask what you were thinking about," Paine said, putting her hand on her hip – the same position she'd been in a million times. "But your face looked a little too happy to be 'Riku'."

I continued to frown. A smile crept across her face. "Now there he is." She moved up close to me and toyed with the top collar of my hoodie.

Rikku giggled.

God, how I hated those two.

"Where's Yuna?" Aka, their ring leader. The girl who usually kept them in line. I asked this to stop Paine from doing what she probably would continue to do anyway. She gripped the metal zipper of my sweatshirt and slid it downwards.

"Would you stop worrying for a few seconds?" Paine murmured, very close to my ear. I stood still, holding the same expression, as she went on. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, but we saw him at the ice cream place a few days ago," Rikku said, sounding very irritating and high-pitched, as usual.

"But I haven't _really_ seen him…" She was probably trying to turn me on or something. I wasn't turned on, in case you were wondering.

I pushed her back.

She looked offended.

"I have to find someone," I growled, glaring at the two girls as if I could kill them with sheer will. "I was told someone's snooping."

"Oh, right. That." Paine sniffed.

"OMG! Larxene just called you, right?" Rikku gasped. "We thought we saw the guy somewhere around here!"

"In the alley?" I asked, before taking a quick glance around. It was still too dark to see without the flashlight.

"Mhm!"

"We'll leave you to it, then," Paine said, her eyes smoldering into my skull. "Here,"

She reached her hand out, handing something to me. Something silver.

Aw, jeez. It was a knife.

I took it and turned away from them quickly, sick to my stomach.

"See you tomorrow, Riku," Rikku called, giggling.

Great. Okay, here goes nothing.

I turned the flashlight onto 'dim' and slipped into the first alleyway.

I had no idea what to be looking for. And I wasn't about to use this knife or anything. Unless I was… you know, attacked…

I shuddered, gripping the weapon tighter.

Why'd they even give me this? I was barely part of their dumb group anymore – or whatever they think of themselves.

Double sigh.

Suddenly I thought I heard footsteps and stiffened.

Shoot. Was I prepared for this at all? No. Had I done it recently? No. Was I questioning loyalty?

Maybe…

I stood, frozen in place, and listened for any more noise. Yeah… someone was walking over behind the building ahead.

I shut off the flashlight – so I wouldn't get caught – and ran silently around the corner.

Holy—!

Someone was there!

I dropped the light (still off) and forced the person against the building's wall. They were a lot taller than me.

"Hey!" I yelled, and the sound seemed to echo in the totally silent night. "What are you—"

"Riku?" The guy said, sounding surprised. And also like he knew me.

"Who…" I stared for a few seconds and realized who I had pinned to a wall. "AXEL?"

"What are YOU doing here?" The redhead demanded as I stepped away from him.

"I asked you first!" I said, trying to hide the knife partway behind me.

"I…" He looked down. "I'm… I'm just looking for something.."

"At four thirty in the morning?"

My friend looked up to glare at me. "Don't act like you aren't suspicious, too."

"Fine, we're both suspicious."

Axel hesitated for a few seconds. "I just heard some rumors when I was at my new job."

"What rumors?"

"That there were these people doing some bad shit in this area. Someone I knew…" He trailed off, and his hand sought the back of his neck. I gritted my teeth.

"What about someone you know?"

"_Knew_," Axel corrected, dropping his hand and jamming it in his pocket self-consciously. I'd never seen him like this. "Larxene. I heard she was in it. It's… bad. From what I've heard. What they do to the girls…"

Something inside me jumped. Talk about awkward.

_Axel_ was the snooper? He was the guy I'd been looking for? Was he the one that I had to search for earlier, too? Is that why he cancelled on Kairi's party?

"What's that?" I heard him say, and followed the gesture of his hand to look at the knife I'd been holding the entire time.

"Um…"

"Riku, why're you here?" Axel stared at me for what felt like a million years before he yanked the knife from my hand and threw it to the ground with a clatter. "_Don't_ tell me," He growled.

"Axel, listen… I…"

"Shut up!" He yelled, his hands clenching. "You're one of them, aren't you!"

"Axel…"

"Stop!" And the next thing I knew he was shoving me, _hard_. "What the hell, Riku! How can you do that? What have you done! Are all the stories true! Have you done anything bad to _Larxene_?"

"No…" I muttered, my hands shaking.

"Don't lie!"

"I said I haven't!"

"Why are you with this crowd, then, Riku? I thought you were better than that!" He was yelling really loudly, but I wasn't worried we'd be found. I was just… pissed. How dare he judge me?

"I don't have a choice! It's not my fault!"

"You always have a choice!"

"It's not my fault! I can't…. I just…"

Axel paused, looking at me like I was some kind of… weirdo. "You know what? I don't care. Were you sent to kill me or something?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and didn't say anything. The redhead stared, aghast.

"Are you SERIOUS?"

"You can't tell anyone."

"What, that you're a _murderer_?"

"Hey, I'm not a…" I trailed off with a sigh. I might as well be. Axel just kept going.

"Riku, NO. I can't… I can't believe that it would even cross your mind to…" He was just absolutely horrified.

"Axel, you can't tell anyone! It's you I'm worried about!" He wasn't looking at me. I went on, my voice level rising. "Yeah, they sent me here with a knife, but you didn't actually think I'd USE it on you, did you?"

"It doesn't matter if it's _me_ you'll use it on!" He snapped. "You'd use it on someone else! How is that any better! I didn't think you'd join such a group of assholes, but here you are!"

"Don't come back here!" I shouted without thinking. My fists clenched angrily. "What if you don't run into _me_ next time? It could be someone else!"

"Hey," Axel hissed, his voice suddenly low. He jammed his pointer finger into my chest, glowering at me. "I'm going to find Larxene and get her out of this shit she's in, all right? She's my friend… but I'm not sure about _you_, heartless bastard."

And then he was turning away and heading off in the night.

I swallowed.

Terrific.

x

(º ⩊ º)

x

I trudged around the dark streets of Twilight Town for… I don't know how long after that. Just… walking. Hauling what felt like a huge burden on my back.

Everyone hates me…

Everyone hates me…

Useless…

I noticed the sun peaking slightly above one building and stared at it blankly for a while, my arms limp. Axel was going to tell everyone and I was going to get in so much trouble. I had no idea what they'd do to me. Shit.

What if he tells Xion?

Oh no. Please don't tell anyone, Axel. I could have acted so much better in that situation! Why'd I have to yell? Why didn't I throw the knife away like I should have!

Letting out a shuddering sigh, I continued walking aimlessly. I wasn't headed towards home. There was nothing for me there anyway. I passed the ice cream shop to find the window uncovered again, and glanced inside only to see emptiness. Why'd I even think someone would be in there?

Again, I kept walking. I periodically stared at my feet and let them take me wherever they wanted to while my hands stayed in my pockets, still lifeless.

Maybe I should go back and tell the others.

No. No, bad idea. They'll just to do something to Axel. What do I do…?

I could find him and explain. Where does he live? Last I heard he was moving out of his parents' house to go to college but he never gave us any more word on it. This whole time… he was looking for Larxene. And she was with us.

Not "us" as in me, Xion, Kairi, Sora and the others. "Us" and in me and them. Me and that Goddam group.

I had no watch, but the sun was getting higher and I could only assume that it had been at least an hour.

I didn't want to go home yet.

I toyed with the key in my pocket, thinking – and kept walking, my feet tapping rhythmically on the sidewalk. A few cars were going by now, even though it was still early. I didn't look up, but I could hear them and feel them.

I meandered around that same area for a while. I don't know how long it was, but… it felt like an eternity, like I was a ghost condemned to walking this Earth alone forever.

Alone.

Forever.

I passed by the same ice cream shop a couple times more, once heading one way and another time heading the opposite direction. I was pacing, with a long distance between each turn around.

As a group of teens went by, laughing, I stopped for a bit to stare in wonder. I didn't know any of them. They seemed a lot farther from me than they usually would, though. They had something I didn't have. Something I'd never have.

I slouched against a brick wall and tapped my head against it repeatedly, maybe to eventually crack my skull open and somehow end this all.

With each time my head struck the stone I cursed and muttered profanities, all aimed towards a different aspect of my life. Aspects that made living shittier than it could be.

Why…

Why…

Wh—

"Sora! Stop!" I head jerked up and my heart jumped immediately into my throat. Who said that? It sounded like…

"Last time I'm gonna say it, Xion!" Sora's voice rang out from down the street. "Don't be soooo sllloooowww!"

I ducked into an alley immediately. My breath quickened. It was Xion. And Sora. But mostly Xion.

"I'll make you carry all the groceries then!" She fumed, her voice going up an octave from frustration. A smile quirked partway across my face.

"Not if you can't catch me!"

"I'll tell Dad!"

"Wait, no! Don't do that!"

"Then come back here!"

"NEVERR!"

Their voices faded partway as they ran off, making me let out a huge gasp of air. She was out early with Sora. Or… was it really that early?

I had a bad angle of the Clocktower, but I could barely make out the hour hand and the minute hand pointing to 6:30.

Still pretty early. For Xion. Someone probably made her leave to do the shopping.

Okay, I'm not proud to say this now, but I kind of followed her. Yeah. I did. I'm sad.

But seeing her kind of made me forget about my horrible life. A little. It was like that a couple days ago, too, at the Karaoke House. Before I had to leave early, it was like I was living a carefree life – no worries, nothing wrong with me at all.

I wasn't like, walking directly behind her or anything. I was kind of _subconsciously_ slinking in the alleys, heading in the same general direction she was. I mean, I couldn't help myself. Yeah, yeah, call me a stalker all you want.

She was wearing a light sweatshirt and the blackish jeans I love best on her, the ones that make her hips…

Yeah, I'll just shut up now.

She didn't seem like she was trying too hard to catch up to Sora – probably knew that _she_'d be the one doing the shopping, not him. He was probably off looking for Kairi or something.

I saw her enter the grocery store and I decided to wait for her to come out rather than follow her inside.

Yes, I'm a lazy stalker. I sank to the ground with a yawn next to a building across the street and looked at the glass automatic doors, waiting for them to open and reveal Xion again.

.

((Oooohhh switching POV's~ I wonder whose POV… It could BE!))

.

With Yuna's hand buried in my hair, I glanced out across the street.

"Hey," I murmured to her silently. I peeked over her shoulder to see a short, black haired girl. That girl… she looked…. kind of familiar somehow. Damn, there's something I love about déjà vu. ((A/N insert smiley face here. Something like this - ^o^))

"Hm?" Yuna had been pressed closely to me but moved back when I spoke. My hands dropped from her unbearably sexy waist.

"Does that girl look cute to you?"

"Who, Xion?"

"That's her name?" Her name was familiar too. Thinking… thinking…

"Yeah," My girl zipped up her little fuzzy jacket, fixing her hair. "She was hanging out with Riku when I met her. Super nice. Really shy. I think Riku has a thing for her."

"No kidding?"

"Yeah, seriously."

This changes everything. There must be something about that girl for _Riku_ to like her. Something…

"I want her then," I said matter-of-factly, staring as she went into a grocery store. "She looks responsible. Shopping this early? Cute type. Barely even has a chest."

"I'm impressed," Yuna chuckled. "You want to bring her in? Won't Riku get pissed off at you?"

"Meh, he'll be fine. I've never been with a girl like her."

"But I'm the best, right?" Yuna teasingly snaked her hand up my shirt, making me laugh.

"Of course you are."

And then we were kissing again.

.

~:Riku's POV:~

.

I continued following Xion most of the morning. She went shopping and – surprisingly – found Sora in the game store and dumped off the two bags of groceries with him.

She went to the Twi-Library after that. Ugh, the pun with that place is so bad it makes me shudder.

I watched her in another aisle as she picked up what looked like a purple colored romance novel or something. You know, I'm actually pretty good at this whole 'following' thing. Considering I haven't been discovered yet. Supposedly. She could be just ignoring me, but why would she do that?

I began failing when she left the store. For some reason when she walked out, I waited a minute before leaving myself and – surprise! – the beeper thingy went off as I was leaving the store and the employee stopped me, holding me back another few minutes as I explained I hadn't stolen any books.

I walked out and found that Xion was NOT there, and I didn't know which way she went.

Ah, well. Everyone messes up…

So I just decided she must have gone home and started walking home myself.

I would have to talk to her soon. As I started tracing the path back to my house I realized how absolutely pathetic I was. Stalking? Really, Riku? You've resorted to stalking?

Eventually Xion will find someone to be with. And it won't be me.

For some reason the very thought of that made my stomach clench.

The walk back home wasn't as nearly depressing as my aimless wandering around town earlier. Xion had… cheered me up somehow.

I glanced up at the distant Clocktower and could vaguely make out 7:45 ish. Maybe it was 7:50, but close enough, right?

Just as I was about to open the door I realized I left my flashlight and the knife in the alleyway.

Shit.

Um… what if someone found the knife…?

Worry replaced my vague contentment – but the feeling faded quickly. For some reason I knew someone would take care of it. Find the knife. Rikku or Paine would do it.

And I barely even used the flashlight.

So, I could step into my house, not worried. I unlocked the door with the key I brought and shut it behind me.

"I'm home!" I called, and turned around to come face-to-face with a pissed off Namine.

…double shit.

"Where were you?" She demanded, something that my mom would probably be asking. "Mom and I were worried sick!"

"…Morning walk," I blurted as an unconvincing excuse. My stepsister frowned at me.

"You promised you'd help me."

"You didn't say when."

"Kind of wasn't expecting you to take off after promising me something like that."

"I didn't take off," I scowled, and pushed past her to go upstairs. "I just went for a walk. I'm here, aren't I? I can help."

"You're hopeless, Riku," Nam paused for a second, and gave me a meaningful look. "Did you… you know, take your…"

"You know, you can stop pestering me about those!" I snapped, probably a little louder than I intended originally. Namine frowned at me as I stomped upstairs.

* * *

Aww, I feel like a total butt.

I didn't get this chapter in nearly as early as I wanted to. Sigh. That's k.

SO! SO SO SO!

What was revealed in this chapter!

A lot, if your eyes were open when you were reading it. It's shorter than normal, but I hope the amount of info in it can make up for that. :3

Something up with Riku. Um, yeah that's been obvious for a while. But what's up with him?

And- GASP! GASP!

Rikku and Paine! Are they evil? I don't really have much to say other than REVIEW PLEASE! Please please? I hope you had a nice thanksgiving. Please review now?

Of course I have the narration thing to do. Ohh, so many things to put for it...

.

_WILL Xion be abducted by the perverted mystery man?_

_WILL Riku make his move on Xion?_

_WILL Axel blab to people!_

_WILL Sora bring the groceries home okay? (Lol idk.)_

_WILL Namine forgive her brother and fix stuff with Roxas?_

_AND most of all... WHO IS THAT WEIRD GUY! OMG OMG OMG WHO WHO WHO!_

- Sono ^-^;

Thanks for reviewing, guys!


	15. Chapter 15

HELLO.

LONG TIME NO SEE.

Let's start off by saying I'm sorry. It's been exactly one month, I believe. That is far too long.

And I left you all off at such a terrible chapter, too. I was in a different kind of mood when I wrote that chapter - but no worries, I'm not depressed or anything.

._.

I'll have to go through my past few chapters and fix all the typos, too, because I read chapter 13 and there were a few pretty bad mistakes in there. x3

MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS, TOO! Or... any other holiday that you may celebrate. Hope you all liked your presents! If I can think of one I'll do a new Year's special or something since I missed Christmas.

You don't really have to think much in this chapter, I guess. The last few have been packed with information that you should store in your memory banks for later or something, or... I dunno. I'll just start now.

* * *

.:Xion's POV:.

My brother did this weird thing with turtles.

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out here.

In Twilight Town, there are these turtles we see on the beach sometimes. The two of us hadn't seen any there for ages, and even though it was summer we hadn't gone to the beach in what felt like forever, either, but Sora and the turtles were at the forefront of my mind a lot.

Back when he was seven-ish, he used to pick them up gently and speak to them as if they were people. Seriously. He didn't do this with crabs, or starfish, or anything. No other wildlife but the turtles.

He was a strange kid. Oh, yes he was.

Why am I bringing this up?

I was reminded when we were hanging out in our house, as usual, that morning. Sora was… lazy, as usual. Dad was in the family room, as usual.

And I was counting the hours since I last saw Ri—

I mean, everyone. I was counting the hours since I last saw Namine and Kairi and Roxas and everyone. As usual.

It was exactly 48 hours so far, if you were curious.

We were quiet, Dad surprisingly stoic through the blaring heat and the broken air conditioner. Sora and I were using paper fans.

I was lying on the rugged floor in a pool of hot sweaty Xion, and apparently Sora had made a habit of laying down on the kitchen table – as long as there was nothing on it. I didn't mind as much anymore.

"I miss the turtles," My brother suddenly opened his mouth and spoke, drawing my attention.

"What?"

"Let's go see the turtles."

The minute I knew what he was talking about I turned my head away from him and rolled my eyes. "They probably aren't there."

Sora was obviously upset. "Why? C'mon, let's go now. It's 12:00 and I'm bored."

"Yes, why don't you two go to the beach?" Dad cut in. This meant I had to go now. Great.

Sora slid himself off the table and stretched. "Yeah! Let's go!"

"There's some ulterior motive in this, isn't there?" I muttered, reluctantly getting to my feet.

"Hey, be more trusting in your brother."

"Hah." That's a good one. Trust. Him. Hah.

And then in a flash we were getting ready. I think I was kind of in a summer-zombie-haze so I wasn't really paying attention to my own actions. …But preeeetty sure by 12:30 I was ready to go, lacing up the last of my converse shoes and trying to remember if I had forgotten something.

Ah, phone. Right.

I went up to my bedroom and grabbed my cell just as Sora swung the door open. "To the beach!" he announced. I groaned and followed him out the door.

This was like the second or third time this summer he dragged me out the door with him. Who knows how many other days like this one were to come.

And he probably didn't want to see the turtles either.

"Kairi's by the ice cream store," Sora said when we departed from our house, suddenly pretty serious. I scoffed.

"SEE! I knew you were doing something else."

"Shhh. I think she said Namine's there too."

"Probably too focused on seeing your _girlfriend_ to pay attention to details."

"That's right," Sora said, walking a little faster ahead of me. "C'mon! The outer window to the store is open now!"

Oh yeah, that's right. I few days ago when I was shopping I noticed that the outer window was free to be ordered from again. I wonder what happened there in the first place, though. Some kind of renovation, maybe?

I couldn't shake the feeling that it was worse than that. But what else could be going on? This is Twilight Town we're talking about here – land of sunsets and turtles on the beach. Oooh, menacing.

Sora was pretty far in the distance when I looked up, turning around and calling at me to go faster. I picked up into a slightly faster lope to reach him.

"I know, why don't we take the free tram somewhere with a good view to eat our ice cream?" I almost opened my mouth to reply, but Sora kept talking and cut me off. "And then what? We could _actually_ go to the beach. OH! Or the boardwalk! We haven't been there all summer!"

I almost started talking again. Sora cut me off. Again.

"C'mon! I can't wait any more!"

And then he was running off ahead. I sighed, rubbing my eyes. I didn't exactly have energy after lazing around for half the day. Cut me some slack, huh Sora?

Besides, I'd get to the ice cream store at my own pace. Namine, in the least, would wait for me, even if nobody else did.

Today was actually cooler than yesterday, but not as busy in this part of town. I was actually the only one around, now, Sora having sprinted ahead. Being alone was kind of… eerie. Yeah, five seconds ago I just said Twilight Town wasn't scary, but… having seconds thoughts here. Not SO bad in the dead of day, but lately it was creepier than usual.

Wonder why…

The ice cream store came into view in a few seconds, and I heard Nam's voice.

"Xion! You made it!" She waved, and naturally, I waved back. It was hard not to grin after not seeing her for so many days.

Okay, four days was kind of a lot. Shut up.

I saw Sora and Kairi locked into a hug as if it'd been ages since the two were together. Roxas was there too… but that was it. No Riku. Or anyone else.

I decided not to ask about them or where they were.

"Too late to get ice cream?" I chuckled, approaching the small group.

"Nope!" Namine smiled back. "We were just about to."

"_Why_ have you guys been cooped up inside for so long!" Kairi demanded, finally breaking off from my brother and standing in front of the order window.

"Laziness," Sora answered honestly, stretching his biceps. "I was thinking we could all go to the boardwalk today."

"Sounds good to me," Roxas replied. He was standing next to Nam, I realized. Interesting. "I was thinking of buying something anyway."

Kairi ordered and paid for the ice cream and in a few minutes we all had delicious sea salt Popsicles in our hands.

The same window guy was there as a while ago, the monotone one that I managed to scare somehow. It was still disappointing that Axel no longer worked in that store – but luckily, for the new employee's sake, Kairi didn't show her displeasure too much when ordering.

"TO THE BOARDWALK!" Sora yelled, trying to march ahead and lead the group.

"Wait, Sora," Kairi laughed. "Not so fast!"

"You're the slowpokes!"

Roxas leaned forward in a challenge. "_I'm_ slow, huh? Care to wager that?"

"You're on!"

"Guys!" Namine tried uselessly to calm the two, but they were off in a flash, running down the street the wrong way.

"The beach is this way!" Kairi called, but her voice was lost on them.

The three of us started running that way too, not that we really had hope of catching up. "Slow downnn!" Namine began laughing uncontrollably, spurring the rest of us to do the same.

Dang, I love my friends.

x

(n_n)

x

.

~:Riku's POV:~

.

I was thinking about leaving the house to get a girl.

And it wasn't the first time.

"Ah, keep your cool, Riku…" I muttered to myself, the only thing that could curb my difficult-to-control feelings. Since a few days ago I'd been cooped up in my house. Namine wasn't going out much either, but just this morning she went to the Ice Cream store with Kairi, offered for me to come, and shrugged when I refused.

She wasn't surprised. I could tell she was still angry at me, but in the Namine sort of way. The subtle way that makes you feel extra bad.

Any other day she totally would have insisted that I go. Xion was going to be there, I bet. But I _still_ couldn't get my ass out the door of this house.

Hm.

My feelings from before had since morphed into fear, anyway. I was afraid of seeing Xion now. Afraid of going out and maybe running into Axel.

Nonetheless, to save myself from this impasse of doing nothing, I started making cupcakes.

Yeah, cupcakes.

Baking usually gave me something to do, and Namine even told me I wasn't half bad at it once. I was pretty flattered. Yesterday I made peanut butter cookies, the day before was pancakes for breakfast…. Most of it was stashed in the fridge or the pantry.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Namine's the only one that knows I cook sometimes. And I only do it when I'm nervous about getting depressed, anyway, which would be a difficult road to get out of. Even I know that.

Milk, eggs…

I mixed the batter slowly, taking out each ingredient one at a time.

Who would I give these to? Namine couldn't eat them all. Even my entire family couldn't.

Whatever. It didn't really matter _who_ ate them, as long as making them kept me occupied.

…

Aaaand we have no sugar.

Great. This was some kind of omen of my bad luck, wasn't it? Here I was, with the entire thing mixed, but none of one of the most important ingredients.

Should I… go out and get some?

No. No.

It wasn't that I was too lazy or scared, even… although both kind of played a factor in it.

I didn't trust myself. And that's why I wasn't going to leave.

x

(u_u)

x

.:Xion's POV:.

.

"All right, everyone," Namine announced, tapping away at her phone. Probably setting up a calendar event. "Here's the plan. We arrive there at 1:30, split up and go shopping, come back, spend time on the beach, and we've blown through a few hours right there."

"Sounds okay to me," I replied with a nod. Everyone agreed.

Namine, our scheduler. I loved her sometimes.

The tram came up to the station with a screech and we all boarded. Despite the fact that today was a good time to go to the beach, the train car was mostly empty and we could all find chairs.

"What were you thinking of buying?" I heard Namine ask… but she was probably directing it to Roxas.

"I dunno, just some summer stuff." Yep. She was. He replied.

We were quieter than usual, waiting on the train. Was Sora actually tuckered out from that race he had with Roxas? Jeez, the world was ending.

((A/N I took cold meds and the drowsiness is coming on like a weight. Ew, it's so weird. Scares me whenever that happens. XC)) I actually found my eyes drooping on the train, the voices of my friends becoming hazy.

I was probably just tired from sleeping and lazing around so long – like all the activity drained me too quickly.

"I can't wait!" Kairi said as the tram jolted and began moving. "I think I need a new bathing suit!"

"But you _just_ got one!" I wasn't sure who said that. Maybe… Sora?

"Yeah, but it's always good to have more," Kairi pouted. "Besides, it's a good excuse to visit Axel if he's working."

"That's a good point," Namine replied, thinking. "We could get him a gift!"

"I'm in!" Roxas yelled, breaking the semblance of silence we had – before someone else on the tram shushed him.

After that we all fell silent.

The slight whirr of the wheels on the track and the dull voice of the conductor announcing which stop was coming up were just enough to make me close my eyes… and nod off.

x

(v_v)

x

The bad thing about me falling asleep on trains is that I never wake up on time. Ever.

It's happened a couple times that I missed my stop, having slept through the time to get off, and had to ride it all the way back.

And then there's the fact that there are _actually_ other people on the train, and it's awkward sleeping in front of other people. Especially if they're near you.

Needless to say, I missed my stop.

Or, at least, I could infer that when my eyes slowly opened and I found myself laying down with nobody else there.

SHOOT!

They left without me!

Was this some kind of prank!

Prank or not, I was left behind and didn't know _where_ I was. Was this the tram that went out of Twilight Town? Crap. Crap. I hope not.

Still kind of tired as I usually was after a nap, I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. The train itself was on an elevated track above a town that I couldn't quite recognize. It actually looked a lot bigger than Twilight Town.

The intercom crackled to life. "Arriving in Dawn City Station in five minutes," it said before shutting off, and I began to panic.

_How_ long had I been asleep? I held up my wrist but quickly remembered I had no watch and whipped out my phone instead. 2:10. If the tram arrived at the beach station at 1:30, I must have been asleep here for FORTY MINUTES LONGER THAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO.

OH NO.

NO NO NO.

I started chewing my nails and looked around frantically. There was a middle-aged man sitting next to me, a woman with a laptop across from me, and a small group of teens on the other side of the train car.

Okay. I couldn't get off in Dawn City. By the looks of it from the train window it was _way_ to big to navigate through on my own. When people boarded, I'd just ask for a train schedule or something to see how long it would be until Twilight Town was reached again.

Yeah. I turned to the middle-aged guy, about to ask him about the schedule, when the conversation being had by the group of teens caught my attention.

"…ask Riku," one of them was in the middle of saying. Wait a sec… their voice was familiar. Very, actually. I thought for about a second and suddenly remembered in a flash that made me gasp. It sounded like Yuna!

I took a glance at them, just quickly, trying to be casual. Didn't want to seem like a stalker, or make them notice me too quickly.

When I saw them, my worry dissolved. It _was_ Yuna, Rikku and Paine!

Oh, thank God! Maybe they could help me! I prepared to go over and ask them for help – Yuna was, after all, really nice to me – but hesitated as what they were talking about finally clicked in my tired brain.

…Riku?

"You think he'll agree to that?" Paine was saying, one hand on her hip. "We, like, never see him any more as it is."

"I think he'd love it," Rikku snickered, playing with her elaborately braided hair. "Imagine what his reaction would be if we just gave him what he obviously—"

"Girls," Yuna said, sounding… a lot more serious than usual. "Please. Think about this with some logic. If we ask him, we can convince him – which means he'll be willingly doing it. All the more help for us."

"What if we can't convince him, then?" Paine growled, crossing her arms. "You should have seen how he reacted to me."

"Tooootal dismissal," Rikku nodded, frowning. "It almost made me, like, sad, you know?"

Yuna hesitated. "I guess You-Know-Who is right then," she sighed, seeming to still be thinking about a final decision to… whatever they were talking about. "A surprise would be better."

"Yeah, Riku'd probably disagree if we told him," Rikku sighed. She clasped her hands together and went starry eyed. "What if they… like, fell in love?"

"Shut up, Rikku," Paine hissed just as the train screeched to a halt. "But, yeah. He'd disagree. He'd disagree _violently_."

"Would he be Riku if he did it otherwise?" Yuna grinned, and for some reason that statement made my stomach go cold.

Were they talking about Riku? Riku being violent? He wasn't violent…

Suddenly people started boarding the tram and my view of the group was becoming obscured by a huge wave of people from Dawn City.

Curse you, Dawn City! Why must you torture me so!

I _had_ to get up now and confront them, or risk them leaving or me losing them some other way. Dang… okay…

I pushed myself to my feet and weaved my way through the crowd towards them.

"Hey, Yuna," I said when I was easily within five feet of her. She looked at me and a smile crossed her face immediately.

"Xion! Hey!"

"OMG, Xion!" Rikku locked me into a (probably unnecessary) hug. "I missed you!"

Paine didn't say anything. It looked like she was kind of angry at me, really, but I figured that's how she looked at everyone.

"What are you doing here?" Yuna laughed, tucking some hair behind her ear. "I didn't pin you as the travelling type. Dawn City?"

"Um…" I nervously began chewing my fingernail again. "I fell asleep. And missed my stop."

I saw Rikku lean over to Paine's ear and whisper something like 'moe' ((A/N Pronounced MOH-ayyy. It's an otaku's term. Try The Newbie's Guide To Moe if you're confused. Lol.)) and hesitated, trying to remember where I'd heard the term before.

Whatever. Paine rolled her eyes drastically.

"What stop do you need to be at?" Yuna said, sounding sorry for me. Or maybe even like she was my mom or something.

"Ah… Boardwalk."

"Psh. Hah." That was Paine.

"Don't mind her," Yuna smiled. "It's fine, the Tram turns around right about now and heads back for TT."

I nodded. "Thanks." I also kind of wanted to ask what they were talking about… but something told me they wouldn't answer.

And I couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on in Twilight Town under my nose.

But Yuna was wayyy too trustworthy for that to happen, right? Right.

The brown-haired girl looked at the massive crowd in the train, which was now blocking my previous seat, and chuckled. "You can sit with us if you want."

"Ah. Yes. Thank you."

And then, I was sitting down in between Rikku and Yuna – squished, really – with Paine on the other end refusing to look at me. It was kind of surreal.

"So, Xion!" Rikku began, leaning over towards me, which just rammed me closer to Yuna's side. She didn't seem to mind, luckily. "_How_ are you doing?"

"Fine," I replied uncomfortably. I was still wondering what they were talking about before and how Riku was involved.

"How's Riku?"

"Fine, I guess. Why?"

"Oh, we haven't seen him in a while. Or talked to him much," She sighed, and the air from the action brushed my cheek.

Um… a little close there.

I arched my neck, trying to distance myself from the girl.

"I haven't really seen him lately, either," I muttered.

"Really?" Rikku sounded shocked, but also somehow eager. "Omg, why?"

"Rikku," Yuna cut in, her eyes narrowing. "Please. Don't pester the girl."

"Sorry.."

We didn't say much after that. During the conversation the tram had rumbled to life, and I noticed it heading back to Twilight Town, to my relief. The problem was that it'd take 40 minutes to go all the way back to the beach station and who knows where my friends would be then?

I spent a while straining my neck to look out the window behind me, trying to avoid looking at Rikku or Paine. Both of them seemed to be staring at me. Um.. Weird.

Yuna, however, was very casual and looked as if this was like every other train ride she'd ever taken. Her eyes were half closed as she sat there, hands folded on her knees, waiting.

And then my ringtone – the Mario theme – went off, making me jump as the phone vibrated wildly in my pocket.

All eyes on the train went to me.

I easily felt the heat rush up to cover my head as I fumbled with the cell to open it up and press the 'send' button.

"H-hello?"

"XION WHERE ARE YOU!" I heard Namine cry on the other end. There was some background noise – probably just Sora or Roxas trying to yell into the phone.

"I'm… uh… on the train."

"I'M SO SORRY! WE TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT YOU! And you were asleep, and we walked off but didn't notice until we were in the—"

"It's okay, Nam, stop yelling," I couldn't help but chuckle at my friend's disparity.

"I called you once, but you didn't pick up!"

Oh really? I didn't see a missed call…

But did that mean my ringtone was going off when I was asleep in the tram – and _everyone_ had to listen to it! SHOOT!

"I'm sorry too, then," I said, fiddling with my shirt. Rikku and Paine were looking at me even more intensely now. "I guess I was still asleep. Jeez, I feel like an idiot."

"We were with you! And didn't wake you up!" She paused to sigh. "The schedule's all out of wack now. Where are you?"

"I was in Dawn City like twenty minutes ago. Coming back to Twilight Town now.."

"Oh... that's… how many more minutes until the boardwalk?"

"Just twenty more."

"Cool. Sorry again, Xion.."

"You guys don't blame yourselves," I laughed. "I'm totally okay."

"Are you with someone?"

I hesitated, then, wondering if I should answer that truthfully. "Yeah," I replied, finally, glancing at Yuna. "I'm with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. Friends of mine."

"Riku?" Namine repeated, sounding very perplexed. "What's he doing out?"

Okay, what did she mean by that..? Riku's allowed out of the house, isn't he? "Um, no.." I muttered, still very wary of the stares I was getting. "She just has the same name. Not a guy."

"Oh. Okay then," Nam replied. There was a silence between us for a few seconds, before she spoke once more. This time she sounded a little sad. "Umm, hey, can we talk? About.. a lot of stuff."

I heard an adult on the train mutter 'rude', and glanced up to see another one nodding her assent. I'd been talking for too long.

"Sorry, Nam, but I gotta go…" I felt really bad saying it, but I didn't want to be looked at any more by anyone. "Still on the train and everything."

"Oh." My friend said. "Right. I'll see you back by the beach."

"We'll talk later."

Click. I ended the call and put the phone back in my pocket, leaning back against the seat.

"Who was that?" Rikku, ever curious, questioned. She was squishing me against Yuna again.

"Just my friend," I muttered, crossing my arms. "Namine."

"Oh."

We were mostly silent for the rest of the ride – and somehow I prevented myself from dozing. There was one instance where I started to nod off, my head tilting to one side. I'd almost lain against Yuna's shoulder when she put a hand on the top of my head to stop me.

"Don't miss your stop again," she teased… but the sentence was somewhat quiet. And when I looked up, her expression was sad.

That's kind of… depressing. I could only frown and nod at her comment, but stayed awake for the rest of the ride.

x

(^w^)

x

I walked into the beach house shop at 3:00 pm.

"Hellooo?" I called, the rickety door closing behind me. "Axel? Namine?"

"Neither of them are here," Someone said from behind the counter, and I turned to see Demyx standing there, resting his head in his hand. Surprisingly enough, he was dressed in an employee visor.

"Oh! Demyx, hey," I greeted, walking up to the checkout desk and leaning against the top. "Um… where'd they all go? I thought Axel worked here."

More importantly, what was _Demyx_ doing _working_?

"Yeah, your amigos were here like five minutes ago freaking out about you," Demyx muttered, messing around with his hat. "And Axel got fired a week ago or something."

I jumped. "Seriously? A week ago!"

Why wasn't Axel telling us these things! What was going on!

"Yeah, he wasn't showing up to work. You gonna buy anything?"

"Uh… no," I muttered. "Thanks, though," I shot him a little wave and walked out the door again, searching for my friends. They could be back on the boardwalk…

I headed across the street, past the parking lot, and walked through a corner of the beach sand in order to get onto the wooden boardwalk's stairs.

"Xion!" I heard Kairi call, and was quickly tackle-hugged by her.

"Good to see you too, Kairi," I chuckled, waiting until she let go of me before turning around to face her and the others.

"Sorry about that, Xion," Roxas said sheepishly, while my brother scoffed.

"It was your fault for falling asleep."

I ignored him. "What did you all buy?"

Namine blushed, being the last to reach me. "Well… we were kind of discouraged from buying anything, looking around frantically for you."

"Ah," I chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry about that then. Is it too late to go shopping?"

"Of course not!" Kairi announced, yelling over Sora's protests. "It's NEVER too late for shopping! EVER!"

"But— I'm… tired..!" Sora moaned, as his girlfriend grabbed his wrist and tugged him onward.

Roxas laughed blatantly at the moaning brunette and followed them, grasping Namine's hand and leading her along.

A smile crossed my face.

Have I mentioned I love my friends?

x

(=w=)

x

.

-=Mystery Person's POV ;3=-

((A/N Yeah, I'm doing it again. Sorry. Mostly to kill time.))

.

I walked into the beach store that afternoon.

The dumbass idiot behind the counter looked up at me and nodded a greeting, and, naturally, I grinned back at him.

"Heyyyy," the idiot moaned. He rested his cheek on the counter. "Soooo bored. Please save mee."

"Your choice to take this job," I chuckled, leaning against the tabletop. There were some novelty pens in a jar next to the cash register – and impulsively I picked one up to start playing with it.

"You bribed me though.."

"Yeah, I did," I paused to laugh a little. "Here." With that, I slid a fifty dollar bill in front of Idiot Boy's hand.

It was funny to see him jump and try to grab it, only to have me pull it away.

"Hold your horses there, buddy," I smiled broadly again, folding the money into a triangle. Unfolding it. Folding it again. Damn, the littlest things really were entertaining sometimes.

"Whaaaat? Give it to me!"

"What was your end of the deal, again?" I said pointedly, glaring at him. My expression dropped into a frown very quickly, and the Idiot stepped back. Well, jeez, he was easy to scare.

"She came in today. Y-yeah. Her friends were looking for her and she wasn't here at first. Came in later. That's it.."

"Really?"

"Yeah.."

"Think some more?" The grin came across my face once again.

"Um…" He hesitated. "I think she was looking for Axel."

My eyes went a little wider. This could be something. "Who's Axel?"

"Her friend. Uh… tall. Red hair…"

Oh reeeally now? I slapped the folded bill onto the table and began walking out the door again, already thinking. How did I get the feeling that this had some kind of connection to the dude that's threatening me?

The dude that's _still_ threatening me, I should say. Who Riku was supposed to take care of but didn't. Oh, there's definitely a connection here. I wanted (needed) Riku back – and he wouldn't listen to me or anyone else. Once we had him in he could solve everything himself, and bringing Xion in was the way to get him.

Not to mention I'd love having that girl anyway. If Riku would share.

"Um… bye?" The idiot called after me.

I chuckled.

* * *

THE END!

Please review, if you would.

To make up for the lateness of this chapter I would normally do a little something extra, but with book reports and work and classes and work, there's a little too much... work... involved. I need to balance out my agenda here.

oAo

Thank you all for being dilligent though. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW once you read!

And if you find this story getting a little... dark... I promise it'll get better! I'm sure you guys can handle it, right? *nods* right!

_((I can't really think of any events for this chapter, so bear with me here.))_

_WILL Xion and Sora see the turtles again?_

_WILL the father have to leave for work?_

_WILL we figure out who's good and who's bad?_

_WILL Namine and Xion get to talK!_

_AND most of all, WHY do I keep being lame and writing in a mystery person's Point of View!_

Thanks, y'all.

-Sono ^-^;


	16. Chapter 16

*sniff*

You guys! I missed you so much! It's been about a year since I started this story and it only has 15 chapters! Q_Q (16 now, I suppose).

But have no fear! I have returned! I've gotta formally thank all those who reviewed even when I wasn't around. It really lifted me up! I wrote and extra long chapter for you guys to make up for my insolence..! Ohh, I hope I haven't lost any readers. I go totally nuts for reviews and pageviews. XC

Thanks again you guys. I'll finish this story, I swear!

* * *

.:Xion's POV:.

.

I must have accidentally set my alarm last night, because it went off at 10:00. Curse my stupidity. My hand reached over and whapped it off.

It seemed to be some kind of omen that I had to get up, though, because the sounds outside my bedroom were unmistakable. Everyone in the house was up but me.

Ugh. Great.

I pushed myself out of bed, glanced at myself in the mirror (bedhead) and shuffled to my bedroom door.

All the fun at the boardwalk yesterday really had me spent (even though I didn't buy anything. Haha, get it?). After my nap on the train, I was probably the most energetic one in our group… and also couldn't sleep come that night. So, of course, I stayed up till one in the morning reading my _tenth_ good book of the summer.

And then I had trouble waking up at my normal time.

It was a feat to get up at 10, even.

I made my way – slowly – out into the hallway… but the second my foot touched the rug floor Sora was in my face, yelling.

"XIONNN!" He announced, jumping around. I winced.

"WHAAA?"

"GET READY! TODAY'S THE DAY!"

"Whaa?" My mouth was hanging open slightly in confusion and shock. WHAT was he talking about?

Dad, in his slippers, came padding up the stairs and placed a hand on my crazy brother's shoulder. "Calm down, son," he mumbled, obviously still in a morning mood like me. "Everyone in town can hear you."

Sora didn't seem to calm down much. His eyes remained wide and a grin stayed spread across his face (he was even bouncing up and down a little) – but he _did_ stop yelling. I'll give him that.

Dad turned to me.

"Xion," he said, newspaper wedged under his arm. "Got a call earlier this morning. I'm leaving to work at a factory inDawnCityfor a few days this afternoon."

I nodded, not sure whether or not I should be sad. This wasn't a new story. "Okay, Dad," I said and smiled at him slightly.

Sora immediately began talking again, cutting off whatever further conversation Dad and I would have shared. "XION!" He grinned, shaking me by my shoulders.

Dad chuckled and began walking back downstairs.

I groaned. "Whaaat?"

"We're going to the beach again today! You have to get dressed!"

"Now? It's Ten AM!" Dang it. Something told me I shouldn't have been up so late last night.

"I know! But everyone's gonna be there!" He stopped shaking me and ran to the door of his room, probably thinking of getting dressed himself.

"At Ten?"

"I don't know. Maybe in a couple hours. But we're going!"

Another moan managed to escape me before I could stop it. "Do _I_ have to?"

"YES!" His voice became muffled as he entered his room and closed the door, clearly looking for me to do the same.

Dang.

It was a hectic morning already.

I turned around, grasped my doorknob, and went back into my room to get dressed as instructed. What was so special about today? We _just_ went to the beach yesterday.

When I'm tired I'm not exactly the best outfit-chooser, so I picked out some black shorts and an orange novelty t-shirt. Probably looked like I was dressed for Halloween or something stupid like that. Jeez.

And then I was out in the hallway again, hearing Sora… _downstairs?_ Already? He was like like some kind of magic or something.

"XION!" He was yelling up at me, to the sound of clinking plates. "I'm making you a sandwich!"

Whaat? A sandwich? How long were we going to be out?

Either way, I rushed downstairs, snatching the knife and marshmallow spread from my brother. _Every_ time he made me a sandwich, it involved something gross like Fluff or another thing made of pure sugar.

I wouldn't allow him to taint my food that way.

Plus I didn't even need to pack a lunch.

"Sora," I said, trying to make my voice sound soothing. It was a feat, considering the confusion I was in. "I do _not_ need a sandwich."

"You suuure?"

"Yes."

My brother took off towards the exit. "C'mon then! C'mon c'mon!"

"Wh—" I didn't even have enough time to get the question out before Sora was back into the kitchen, dragging me to the door, and putting on his shoes. "Ahhh wait!" It took a lot of effort to tug my arm from Sora's grasp.

"Do you need a sandwich now?" Sora scoffed at me, rolling his eyes. "Psh, girls."

"_No_!" I barked. "Why are we even leaving? It's—" I looked at my wrist.

Shoot. No watch.

Sora grinned at me.

Ah, now I felt like a loser.

"At least let me get my phone, huh?" I snapped, backing up before turning to go once again up the stairs and into my room. What was this even about? Going to the beach? Sora's never even been this interested in it before. Sure, he loves it, but not _this_ much. He's literally dragging me around.

"HURRYYY!" He yelled from downstairs, as if to prove this.

Yikes.

No later than a second after my fingers closed around my cell phone it vibrated wildly, making me jump.

Huh?

I flipped it open to look at the message.

**Hey, Xion :)  
****Waiting for you at the beach~ Can't wait  
****to see you, girl!**

**From: Yuna**

**To: Me**

I kinda stared blankly at the message for a second – but Sora snapped me back to reality.

"HEL-LLOOO!"

"I'm coming, Jeez!" I yelled back down, shoving my phone in my pants pocket and running down the hallway.

I knew I had Yuna's number, but I wouldn't have suspected in a million years that she'd text me. What was that all about?

And how did she know we were going to the beach?

Okay. Officially creepy.

The second I made it all the way downstairs Sora was opening and slamming the door, running outside. "Hurry, Xion!" he called, impatiently jumping up and down in his green shirt and cargo shorts. All right, all right. Heard it the first time.

I slipped into some flip flops and followed the hyper boy out. He, (like always) began running ahead of me, hardly looking back.

"Everyone's gonna be there! Kairi and Namine and Riku and—"

"I get it, I get it!" I said, chuckling as Sora took off down the street, waaaay ahead of me. I was walking. I mean, I didn't even know where we were going. It didn't matter.

What really stood out in his sentence, though, was Riku.

So he'd be there. It felt like a while since I'd…

"Sora! Wait up!" I called suddenly, laughing and trying desperately to catch up with my madly sprinting brother.

X

(TT_TT)

X

((I really need to stop with the cheap cuts.))

I was falling behind Sora until we reached Roxas's house on the edge of our neighborhood. Apparently this (mysterrrrious) event was so big that _every_one was going, including my cousin and Yuna and… well… Everyone. Yeah.

My brother was slamming on Roxas's front door like the apocalypse was coming hard and fast around the corner, while yelling for him to come out in a very Sora-ish way.

"ROXASSSSSS COME OUT NOWWWWW IT'S TIMMMEEE YOU PROMISED YOU'D BE REEEEEADYYY!"

"And I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow the house down," I added, standing on the sidewalk and chuckling.

I always thought Roxas's house was a lot more trim and pretty than ours – the kind with the little gardens in the front, the green lawn, the yellow paint..

Ours was more of the old one you tend to steer away from in case it turned out to be a crack house cleverly placed in a decent neighborhood.

Then again, the differences could have been due to our parents. Roxas had the… well, if I haven't mentioned it before… the controlling, you-don't-want-to-be-around parents. They were constantly on Mom's and Dad's backs for leaving us alone all the time.

As if on cue to my thoughts, Mrs. Koizumi ((A/N I may change the last name at some point. XD)) answered the door, decked out in heels and glasses and momwear. She looked as much like Roxas as she always did (her face, anyway), despite her short cut black hair. Obviously dyed that way – but my mom did the same thing, so I wouldn't be one to judge.

Sora instantly shaped up, as he should have.

"Er, hi Auntie Mary," he greeted politely, not up for some kind of rant about how ratty he was looking that day.

"Hello Sora, Xion. Roxas is upstairs cleaning his room, he'll be down as soon as he's finished."

"Can't I finish _later_?" The voice of our cousin called from far up the stairs, which were visible from view of the doorway.

His mom tapped her foot impatiently. "To go on this trip, you promised you'd clean your room _thoroughly_."

"I'll do it later!"

Annoyed huff. "Then hurry downstairs! The door is open and it's letting bugs in!"

Sora and I stood awkwardly, shuffling our feet into the dirt as Aunt Mary raised her voice. She was a work-at-home mom, who used the computer often. Sora and I once deduced that she always dressed nicely because she never got to do so every morning to get ready for work like other people.

I digress. Roxas came bounding down the stairs moments later to greet us, smile on his face.

"Sorry 'bout that. Bye mom!" He waved to her without looking back, spurring me and Sora to do the same – plus a friendly nod in her direction. Anything to not get her angry at us.

"Stay safe!" She called as we began walking. Roxas barely nodded in acknowledgment.

Auntie went back inside and shut the door by the time we were halfway down the street, and all of us breathed a sigh of relief in total unison. Seriously though. Under her watchful eye is so creepy.

"So," Roxas said, grinning. "Can't 's gonna meet us there, right?"

"Everything's alllll planned out," Sora replied smoothly. What? What was planned out? And how come everyone knew what was going on but me!

"Sweet," my cousin chuckled. "Can't wait, it's gonna be the coolest thing."

"_What_!" I snapped, finally breaking. I couldn't go on forever not knowing, know what I mean?

"Didn't you hear?" Roxas questioned, Sora already picking up the pace and moving on ahead of us. I felt like I was in a terrible sitcom. "There's a tournament on the beach."

What? "What kind of tournament?"

"A Ninja Tournament! It's the first annual one or something – isn't that awesome! I'm not gonna compete, but.."

Okay, what? _What_? A ninja tournament? "What!" I repeated my thoughts out loud to my cousin, naturally confused. "I don't even… who even knows what that game _is_!"

Come to think of it, I wasn't sure what the game was myself. It sounded really familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on when and where I heard of it.

The blonde shrugged. "I dunno, but it's popular enough. I saw the poster the other day. See? There's one."

I followed his pointing finger to see that – yeah, I'm shocked too – there were three or four posters put consecutively next to each other on the wall of a brick building. I couldn't exactly read them, but it didn't take too much guessing to figure out what they'd say.

This thing was more serious than I thought. Sora actually brought me out for a _reason_. Whoa.

What a shock.

"This is… pretty dumb," I muttered. Probably still irritable from not getting enough sleep – but honestly! Think about it! A volleyball tournament I could get. But… Ninja? For real?

Still… though it was the complete most random thing in this town since the Struggle, you had to give them some credit. It would be fun to watch.

Roxas shrugged in response to my biting comment. "I guess. But it's gonna be cool." True enough.

Sora was already far ahead of us – and now that I looked I could see him.. over at the ice cream store. Buying… Y'know, I'll give you three guesses.

"XION!" He called to me, waving. Roxas and I were just barely close enough to hear his high powered yell. "WHAT FLAVOR D'YOU WANT!"

"SEA SALT!" I replied, voice level equal to his. It was only the singular flavor I get every time.

"MAKE THAT TWOO!" Roxas added. Of course. Roxas and I loved sharing sea salt ice cream. When we were younger we used to head to the top of the Clocktower and eat it – but the entrance was closed last winter and we hadn't done it since. Axel came too until he started getting jobs. Then he just… stopped.

An exchange took place over the counter just as we approached Sora, and he handed us our ice cream – but not without taking a bite out of mine.

"Hey!" I hissed. He chuckled.

"Have a nice day – losers," the employee at the window growled to us, before Sora could aptly reply. Whoa. Talk about good business strategy. I turned my head to look at who made the comment.

Vivi?

Since when was he working here? The short kid was obviously scowling at us even though his face was obscured by the hood of his sweatshirt. There was even the movement and shadow of him sticking his tongue out at me.

"Aren't you a little young to have a part time job?" I questioned – though really I should have said nothing at all. Call it a slip of the tongue.

He flipped me off. How nice.

"Why so serious, Son?" Sora questioned, laughing loudly at his own Dark Knight reference that made no sense in the context.

"No reason. Shaddup," Vivi snapped at us in return. Roxas arched an eyebrow.

"Riiight. Well, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Vivi."

The three of us turned away and continued along the sidewalk, trying not to glance back until we were a decent distance away from the ice cream window. Sora managed to make the situation worse by yelling something when we were on our way.

"I thought ice cream men were supposed to be JOLLY!"

Roxas and I stopped and cringed, waiting for the angry tirade that would come from his snide remark. But none came. Lucky break there.

"_Please_ don't provoke him," I muttered to my brother. "You know he's in with Seifer."

"Seifer can suck it," Sora scoffed. Oh please.

"Whatever."

And on we walked.

It was mostly in silence – since we were all eating icy treats. I had to focus on not letting mine drip all over my fingers, of course, which was enough to restrain me from talking at all. Despite this silence and the seemingly slow pace of our long walk, the parking lot to the beach was soon in sight from a distance… and on the horizon, the ocean sparkled.

"Finally!" Roxas chuckled, being the first to speak as he chomped off the last of his ice cream. I'm incapable of biting into the popsicles, myself. "Anyone got the time?"

I whipped out my phone after switching my ice cream stick to only one hand. Mine appeared to be barely dented.

Hey, I'm slow at eating ice cream, all right?

"Almost 11," I replied, glancing briefly at the wallpaper clock. Sora chewed on his empty popsicle stick excitedly.

"We have an hour, then, right? This tournament's gonna be the shit!"

I rolled my eyes at him – how many times have I done that today alone? – and stuffed my phone back into my pocket. The parking lot was closer now. I could see the sand from behind the coarse bushes that lined the entrance – and, in the distance, I could catch some sort of giant structure placed on the beach next to the boardwalk. For the tournament no doubt.

When we were nearer to the parking lot Sora and Roxas took a detour to throw away their popsicle sticks (at least they don't dump them on the ground) but somehow got into an argument and took off in a race to settle the matter. Naturally, I wouldn't follow them. They were headed for the site of the tournament, so I could catch up to them later anyway.

To finish my ice cream I stood next to the trash can, surveying the cars parked by the beach. Sora said _everyone_ would be at the tournament. Was it _really_ that important? I probably wouldn't have been there if he didn't drag me out of bed, sooo…

Eh, it didn't matter. It would be pretty fun to be a part of the audience, cheering everyone on. I wondered briefly who would participate in the whole production. Namine said Riku was amazing at Ninja – so maybe he'd be competing! He'd definitely win. What if I bought him some sort of 'congrats for winning' present?

Heh. Not a bad idea, Xion.

Suddenly, a familiar jeep ((A/N That's the type of car, right? :C)) pulled up – and the very sight of it made my heart jolt. It was Riku's jeep!

Before heading to a parking space it pulled up right in front of me and the tinted window to the passenger seat rolled down…

To reveal Namine.

"Hey Xion!" She greeted, smile on her face. "What're you doing, standing here all by your lonesome?"

My eyes flickered to the driver's seat, only to find Namine's blonde mom grinning at me as well. So… no Riku?

"Just finishing this up," I chuckled back, holding out my ice cream. I took a couple licks as if to demonstrate my ambition to complete this quest. Namine laughed.

"Ok, we can walk to the beach together! This is gonna be so _awesome!_"

"I know right!"

Nam gave me a little wave as her mom drove off to find an empty space to park – and I took that time to eat the rest of my ice cream as quickly as I could. This left me with a terrible brain freeze.

Crap! I usually only got those while drinking!

Namine and her mom approached to find me moaning in pain, clutching my head.

"…You ok?" Namine questioned. I nodded weakly.

"Augh, brain freeze!"

My friend laughed out loud again, making me wonder what it was that I did that was so funny. Her mom chimed in.

"Okay, Namine. You can go to the beach with Xion. Just be sure to keep in touch, all right?"

"'Kay, Mom. Thanks!"

"Yeah, thank you," I added, trying to sound as sweet as possible despite the freezing cold pain. But, ah, it was dying down now.

Namine and I began our trek, pushing through the spiny bushes (ouch) to reach and begin walking on the white, powdery sand. Her mom stood behind us with a smirk on her face as she watched us go.

"So is Roxas here?" Namine questioned. She tilted her chin up to glance out over the beach. "Or… or Sora?" It sounded like she added the second name to make it appear as if she cared about anyone other than Roxas.

"Yeah, he and Sora took off. They should be by the stage-thingy over there.. I think.." _Was_ that a stage? I could barely tell.

"Omigosh! This is gonna be SO exciting! I've been waiting for this for SOO long!"

I let out a quick breath of exasperation. How'd I miss all the propaganda about this tournament? How long had it been advertized? Namine was generally more well-informed than me, due to her often more charismatic nature. She didn't pay much attention to the other 'acquaintances' she got, however, since she enjoyed hanging out with our own group, but make no mistake, a lot of people knew her.

Kind of different from me. I don't have many other friends outside our inner group.

"So…" I began, clearing my throat. "Is Riku here? I thought that was his car."

"Nah, that's my mom's car, remember?" Namine chuckled. On the surface, it appeared that she took no notice of my peculiar question. I normally didn't ask too much about Riku. "He stayed home today. Not feeling well I guess."

Can't argue with that, I suppose. I almost stumbled while trekking through the thick sand, face red from embarrassment (how could I ASK that question? She probably thinks I'm obsessed with her brother or something!) but Namine caught me by the arm with a chuckle. I laughed it off as well, something I tend to easily do.

But still.

"Ooh! The stage is so close!" Namine giggled, excited out of her mind. Come to think of it, though, I was feeling excited too. I'd never been around for the "first annual" _anything_.

"I gotta admit, this will be fun," I smiled, slipping one hand into my pocket. "Look, there's already a crowd gathering!"

It was true, naturally. We were approaching the stage from behind (there was a giant Ninja banner hanging from it) but even from our angle we could see people from the sides and hear the tremendous bustle. The town really knew how to advertize.

Except just not to _me_, of course.

The boardwalk was filled with people as well, which made it a feat for Namine and me to climb onto it and actually begin walking. But we did. I saw Namine scan her eyes through the groups of people – while I took the time to glaze my eyes over the kiosks to see if Roxas and Sora were there. Or anyone else for that matter. Too bad Riku wasn't around..

"I'm _starving_!" Namine announced after deducting that Roxas wasn't around (this is just my speculation, here, but c'mon.) "I missed breakfast this morning 'cause I was so busy."

"Busy with what?" Nam was always busy.

"I was serving at a pancake breakfast – that one to benefit the new tram track being built!"

Okayyy… didn't hear about that one either. "Oh… sorry I missed it," I replied, actually feeling sorry. "You didn't have time to eat breakfast because you were too busy serving it?"

"Yep!"

"Well… we can get some." I didn't remember if I'd had any breakfast either, but I could've gone for a snack anyway. Nam and I pushed through the crowd of people to the stand we frequently went to, 'Smoothies Plus'. The name implies that they serve more than just smoothies, which they do – but their classic Strawberry Banana Mix is all I ever get there anyway.

Unfortunately, there was quite the line at Smoothies Plus, so much that it kind of had to curve over to avoid the groups travelling along the boardwalk in masses. It looked like less of a line and more of a huge heap of people standing together. Namine and I were troubled by this.

"Maybe we could skip it?" I questioned, frown crossing my face as I observed the size of the line and tried to somehow calculate how long we'd be waiting.

"I'm starved though!" Namine sighed in obvious anguish. She crossed her arms and tapped her flip-flopped foot in thought. "This is the only even remote breakfast place. Look, maybe you can secure us a spot or something, find Roxas and Sora…"

"While you wait in line?" I completed Namine's sentence with an even deeper frown and a shake of my head. "No way! You can't brave this _alone_!"

She chuckled. "I guess. Thanks Xion."

And then we began to wait. And wait. I checked my phone periodically to make sure time was actually passing. I scuffed lines into the ground with my foot every so often to assure myself that the line was actually moving.

Needless to say, I'm bad at waiting and Smoothies Plus isn't large enough to suit this many customers.

The crowd seemed to be thinning out just slightly behind us, as they most likely began to take their seats or find a spot on the beach or whatever they were doing. Where was Sora? Could they already be sitting? From where we stood I could get an awesome view of the front of the stage through brief breaks in the wave of pedestrians.

It was, indeed, a stage sitting on the beach at low tide. Almost like a runway but not quite, since it was wider and shorter. There were no "chairs", per se, but colorful towels set on the sand everywhere to mark of spaces chosen by people. I immediately cursed in my mind for not bringing a towel myself. Sora didn't either.

Banners hung from every lamp post in sight and one large, readable flag saying "Ninja Tournament" flew from the front of the stage as well. It was a nice setup for something that wasn't around yesterday.

I looked back to see that the line had barely moved. Ugh. Clock, please tell me time still exists. A glance at my phone wallpaper proved that it was 11:10 and, yes, time had not yet run away. Good. I was about to strike up some casual conversation with Namine (who appeared to be texting) when, suddenly, (yes, as sudden as that), someone pulled me out of the line. Just pulled me out.

Not kidding.

At first, in this crowd, I felt a pang of fear. C'mon, isn't it natural? It could be a rapist, or a pedophile. Or some crazy person that's about to kill me between the two kiosks they pulled me over to.

"Xion! Soo glad you made it!"

Huh—ah. It was Yuna, of course. "Hi! I greeted happily, straightening my back. The fear instantly disappeared from within me as I saw her smiling warmly, lifting one hand to wave. It didn't escape my view, however, that the girl appeared to have some… arm candy.

A specific type of arm candy that I didn't like. The kind whose name was Seifer.

Since when is Yuna hanging out with that guy? My happy beam quickly turned into a look of sour confusion, but Yuna missed this completely.

Seifer seemed kind of smug (which didn't help matters) while Yuna laughed and patted my shoulder. Everything about her pretty much made her seem like a parent figure, y'know?

"Great to see you! I was looking around for you but didn't see you here. Did you just arrive?"

"Uh.. yeah," I muttered, taking my eyes from the douchebag next to Yuna. My hand went up to brush some of my black hair (growing out) behind my ear. "My friend and I. We just arrived." Talk about awwwkward.

"Awesome – so, I just signed you up. You were one of the last spots and I barely got there in time."

It took a moment for me to register the magnitude of her comment.

"Oh, cool. Yeah. Namine and I w— Wait, WHAT?"

"I signed you up. For the tournament." Yuna seemed confused that I was confused. Wow, confusing. "It starts in just a little while, so I can lead you backstage to get ready."

"WHAT?" I repeated, feeling rather like a skipping record. What? What? What?

"You're number 30, since only 30 people can fit on the stage with enough room to play. C'mon, let's go! Bye Seifer~"

She touched Seifer's cheek before taking my hand to bring me (still in shock) along, off the boardwalk and towards the stage. The crowd… almost seemed to part in front of us with Yuna in the lead. I heard Seifer's voice fading as we moved.

"Good luck, Xion!" There was a weird quality to his voice – seeming nearly fake.. or… or a little angry, even. A weird feeling to get from a nice comment. Still, though. Since when did SEIFER say NICE things?

"Okay, this is gonna be good," Yuna smiled, approaching the stage. I could see now that there were stairs in a stepladder-like fashion that led behind the black curtain.

"WHY would you sign me up for this?" I yelped, then, unable to control my utter shock. Normally I try not to have outbursts with new friends (so I can keep them) but COME ON. She signed me up to be a public spectacle without my knowledge!

"Shh, not so loud. Oh. Well," Yuna began, brushing off my explosion with a simple 'shh'. "I'm helping out with this project and needed to find some people to do it. We were short around three entries… and you seemed like you'd like it!" Insert smile here.

Really. Really? Seemed like I'd LIKE it? She barely KNEW me! I was completely speechless.

We arrived backstage, which wasn't very big at all but it was packed with people – every contestant, talking and assuring who would win (each person betted on themselves, of course.) The whole place was filled with boxes and seemed rather creaky and wooden and unpainted. I was squeamish in the area, but Yuna seemed perfectly fine as she led me surely to a pile of papers and picked out the one that said "30" on it in big bold letters.

I was still having trouble believing that all of this was _actually_ going on. "I don't think I can—"

"Oh, you'll do fine. Now stand in the group with the others, we're ahead of schedule so I'm going to explain the rules to everyone," Yuna patted my shoulder for the second time – and her tone of voice _nearly_ convinced me that it'd be fun to participate in this disaster. "We changed them a little for this."

I somehow ended up (stumbled?) in the middle of the huge group of contestants as Yuna went to the front of us, with the back of the curtain behind her, clapping her hands to get our attention. "All right, we're gonna start a little early, folks. Here are the rules!"

Someone nudged me, and I looked over to find Demyx standing there grinning at me, sporting the number 16 on his chest. His long and bizarre mullet-like hairdo was pulled back in a small and low ponytail, probably due to the heat.

"Didn't know you liked this kind of stuff, Xion!" He said to me, bouncing up and down a little in anticipation. "Sweet, amirite?"

"Um… I was kind of forced into it…"

"Well whatever! You got guts I guess."

"Thanks…"

"…and by then, you'll all be onstage," Yuna was in the middle of saying. Shoot, my chat with Demyx made me miss the beginning of her explanation. "Ok!" She called. "Now here are the rules on how to play." The small audience shifted on their feet with anticipation to what changes to the rules would be made. "It's mostly the same as it usually is. Stand in a circle, and try to hit the hand of one of the people next to you using only one motion of your own hand. Get it? You only get one move until everyone gets a chance to make a move all around the circle, and then it comes back to you. If you so choose, you can use that move to jump somewhere else on stage, but you are only allowed one jump. After you make a move, you must freeze in that position, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Moves go in numerical order and must be kept under 5 seconds in length to keep it all moving." Yuna smirked, leading me to believe that she's the one that devised most of this. It was just that kind of smirk. "You have to start in a circle, but it could end up in any shape due to the option to move. I suggest you memorize your number because of this. When your hand gets hit, crouch on the stage until the next round is called, then exit onto the beach through the latter to the left."

There was a pause – since, of course, it was a lot to take in.

"Any questions? No?" Yuna barely gave any time to ask anything before she was turning around to face the curtain instead of us. "Then let the games begin~."

A voice travelling through a microphone and loudspeakers could be heard. "Please return to your designated seats. The Tournament is about to begin."

Yuna then pushed the curtains aside and stepped onstage – only giving us a brief glance of all those sitting on the beach to watch before the black shroud closed behind her. I got a sinking feeling.

It was a lot of people.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Twilight Town!" Yuna called, then, when she apparently must have reached the podium. She had quite a good announcing voice. "Are you ready for the first annual NINJA TOURNAMENT?" A cheer arose from the crowd. Not deafening, but enough to remind someone (like me) that a decent amount of people were going to be watching. "Then I guess we should give it up for the contestants!" Another cheer that almost drowned out Yuna's voice occurred as she continued. "You placed your bets, you made your choices – and now, let's see them! Contestant number one, with chances of 2-1!" A kid from our group ran through the curtain onstage. "Contestant number two, with chances of 5-1!" Yet another ran out of the backstage area to be viewed by all.

EH? We were being betted on? And where'd they get those odds from?

As Yuna was calling out numbers and the crowd was cheering, my phone vibrated, making me jump and whap my pocket to make it stop. I got a few curious looks from contestants.

Ah, but.. retrieving my phone proved that I had gotten a text from Namine.

**Whered you go? :(**

**From: Namine**

**To: Me**

I didn't even have time to start typing a reply before Yuna was only seconds away from calling my number. Backstage had emptied itself pretty quickly and soon I was the only one remaining.

"And, finally," Yuna called, using her impressive announcer voice. "The underdog, with odds of slim to none… Number 30!"

…Slim to none! It took a second for me to recover from being offended by this to realize I had to be running onstage. So… I ran onstage. Sigh.

I could only imagine the reaction of everyone when they finally discovered where I was.

In the circle of players there seemed to be only one spot left between contestants 29 and 1, so I stood there and waited for Yuna to continue. She turned around and shot me a thumbs up.

"There you have them! Your contestants! Last chance to place bets is right this very second, at the betting booths by the corners of the area! The playing starts at the horn!"

We stood there for what felt like hours, sweating. Or at least I was. Maybe I should just purposefully lose early. Nobody betted on me anyway since my chances are so terrible…

But – y'know, for some reason, when the horn sounded, almost echoing in the late morning air….

I won't lie. I felt competitive.

So, when the first set of moves went around the circle, my blood started pumping. A few people got knocked out of the round, making them crouch with dissatisfied looks on their faces. The circle was already beginning to scatter, since some strategically used their moves to jump away from others. When my turn arose, my hands tense and I lunged at number 1….

And hit his hand.

He was out. The contestant (a boy, older than me presumably) shot me a look of disbelief before crouching.

Hah.

"Round one is complete! Losers exit the stage! Round two will consist of two cycles!" Ah, there was Yuna's voice again. It and the crowd seemed kind of muted and muddled and the horn sounded and everyone started up. The circle tightened slightly, and number 29 got knocked out before me… which pretty much gave me a free pass. I lunged for number 2, but he dodged and retaliated by trying to hit me – so, naturally, I sprung back and avoided this assault.

Hey, this was pretty fun!

"Round three! Three cycles!" Ah, so they must increase the cycles every round. My heart pounded in my ears, and despite my racing breath a smirk remained on my face for this game. For round three, I counted quickly before the bell sounded. 21 remaining.

For my next turn I tried again to hit 2, but he once again jumped back and turned around to try and hit 3. Now people were getting into the swing of things and didn't even need 5 seconds to think. The moves were heading around quickly – so quickly that 28 would have hit me if I didn't move a fraction of a second later. Due to this I jumped as far away as I could (couldn't risk getting almost hit again!) to find number 2 jumping closer to me, a determined look on his freckled face.

Oh no he won't.

"Round four! Four cycles! 15 remaining!"

The game went on. 2 tried to knock me out of the game but I ended up jumping forward and hitting his hand – and as soon as I performed the action he sighed in disgust and crouched. I grinned smugly. Yes, I felt competitive indeed.

In round five, someone was hit but tried to keep playing anyway – and the referee had to come onstage and drag them off. (I was almost embarrassed FOR them. Jeez.) Periodically I glanced to Demyx to find that he was doing pretty well, and was often segregated from the group closer to the center. Now, however, there wasn't really a circle at all. It was just random contestants scattered about the stage.

By round six there were only 5 people left, but we were the best of the best.

Yeah.

I was one of them.

Aren't you proud of me?

I was remembering then how I won the short ninja game at Namine's house not too long ago. Maybe I was so good I could even beat Riku…!

No, no. I had to keep my head. Getting too cocky is what makes people lose.

Only a small portion of the stage was being taken up, now, since of course there were only a few left. I _almost_ got knocked out twice in just round six – but luckily didn't. We progressed into the middle of round 7 without losing a single person – but then we lost number 9, who had been persevering well. I was just realizing now that almost every contestant was a boy, but among the finalists there were two girls. Me, of course, and another girl with similar short black hair that I'd never seen before, number 20. She was shorter than me.

Though, yes, she seemed fast and skillful, Demyx knocked her out in round 8 – and then it was only three. Me, Demyx (16), and number 10. I kept feeling compelled to jump back, so I wouldn't get hit and knocked out this late in the game (I didn't want to lose NOW, of all times!) but I resisted, glancing back at Demyx. He didn't seem to be trying to hit me, ever. He only aimed for 10, so I did the same – and soon we were both ganging up on the one remaining boy other than us. It didn't take long for us to knock them out. Yuna immediately brought the microphone to her mouth to speak, just as 10 sighed and left the stage.

"It's down to the two final contestants, 16 and 30, at round 9! Who will win this battle? How long will the final round last?"

The crowd went wild. Guess they actually wanted to know. I looked a Demyx with a smirk, and he grinned widely.

"Good luck!"

"Same to you!" I felt like this round was going to last a long time. We were both pretty good, and had lasted this long… but still, it seemed to me like I'd win. As clumsy as I normally was, it seemed like I had a gift for playing Ninja. It seemed like I was destined to win. A spark went off in my heart, jumpstarting it into a fast beat.

The horn sounded.

X

(=w=)

X

~Mystery POV~

((A/N Yes I'm doing it again. T^T So sorry…))

"I don't care what you say!" I screamed, smashing my fist against the brick wall. The alley was just dark enough for no one to see us, even in daylight. I don't know about hearing, however.

"B-but..!" Rikku began, chewing her nails nervously. "She…!"

"I don't care!" I repeated, grinding my teeth, trying to prevent myself from shaking in rage.. "If she doesn't like us, she doesn't join us. What kind of retarded crap were you thinking by SIGNING HER UP FOR THAT_ STUPID_ CONTEST?"

"Y-Yuna said she'd like it…!" The blonde beauty was frowning deeply now, almost whining. Everyone was dying for my approval and praise – yet, how, tell me, did they expect to get it when they refused to use their BRAINS?

"I don't care what Yuna said!"

A slight pause. Rikku's pout deepened as I thought about a punishment… or a solution… or…

"Fine. We'll see how she reacts. If it's bad, you, Yuna, AND Paine will take the fall. You got that?"

"Y-yes sir!"

"Now get the hell out of my sight."

"Rodger that!" Rikku turned on her heel and ran out of the alley as fast as she could manage with me staring laser beams down her back (well not literally, but I might as well have been).

When I was alone, I stood there in the alleyway and rubbed my forehead with my palms in exasperation. Riku seemed like the only one with half a mind around here.

X

(^w^)

X

.:Xion's POV:.

.

I guess it's safe to say I was wrong.

Yeah, I mean, I said the battle would last a really long time. It…

I'm embarrassed to admit it only lasted one cycle. I aimed a blow at Demyx but got too close apparently – because his next move struck me in the hand faster than I could react.

…Yeah.

My eyes widened, and I involuntarily let out an audible, "Aww!" How could it have been over that quickly? And I lost to… HIM? Seems like my hunch was totally wrong…

Demyx laughed and shook my hand, as the crowd went totally nuts.

"THERE you have it, folks!" Yuna called. "The winner of the Ninja Tournament! Number 16! Collect winning bets at the betting booth you applied in!"

Demyx had to yell over all the talking in the crowd for me to hear him. "You're like, totally an actual Ninja now!"

"A what?" I called, tilting my head. Was he kidding?

"Like, an honorary Ninja, know what I mean?"

Yuna tapped the microphone as the security guard came onstage with a giant belt, shining gold and silver with fine-looking leather straps – rather like the Struggle Tournament belt but not quite the same. Different colors. They handed the belt to Demyx and he held it above his head in triumph.

Despite my disappointment in losing, a smile crawled across my red-flushed face and I began to clap as well, along with everyone else, before ducking back and taking my leave from the stage.

Demyx did a good job, after all. I had to congratulate him by clapping, in the very least.

I had barely even reached the ground, breathing heavily from all the excitement, when Namine rushed up to me – closely followed by Roxas, Sora (with Kairi under his arm), and a distracted-looking Axel.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" She gasped, grabbing me by my shoulders and shaking me violently.

I laughed loudly and pushed her hands off as gently as I could, but she and all the others (except Axel) just kept raving.

"I didn't know you signed up for this!" Roxas grinned. I shrugged.

"Neither did I." But I sure loved it.

"Who knew you'd do so well when your odds were that low?" Sora added, Kairi nodding in agreement.

"Omigosh, Xion! I can't believe you're so good at Ninja!"

"Um… those odds were made up, guys—"

"We should be heading back," Axel said suddenly. His skinny arms were crossed, and he was clothed in a black long sleeved shirt despite the heat. What, wasn't it like… 90 degrees?

"Hey, Axel…" I greeted cautiously, confused by his abrupt comment. "Haven't seen you in a while." I smiled. He shrugged.

"Just been kinda busy with everything. Good job up there. Like I said, we should beat the crowd."

"Um.. okay!" I agreed, trying to sound upbeat. "Yeah, don't wanna get caught in a giant group of people leaving!"

"Right!" Kairi nodded. "Byeee, beach!" She called to (apparently) the location we were leaving just as we started walking.

"Beat you to the parking lot!" Sora challenged Roxas without even a moment to spare.

"You're on!" Our cousin nodded – and they took off _again_ – but this time with Namine following.

"Bet I can beat you guys this time!"

I chuckled to myself and began to jog after them, not matching their speed. Sheesh, I can never run as fast as those guys.

X

(TAT)

X

Sora rushed right into the house ahead of me, slamming the door in his wake – making me chuckle at his hurry. As I approached the doorstep, however, I saw something sitting on the corner of the marble stairs.

Eh?

I walked over and picked it up.

A small box sat in my hand, about the weight of a cell phone and the size of a small box of crayons – totally wrapped in wrapping paper as if it was for Christmas.

Absentmindedly, I turned it around in my hands. Whaa? Who was this for?

Oh—

'Xion' was scribbled on the wrapping in nearly unintelligible writing – so naturally I opened it with a grin to find a large, high-tech black _watch_ inside.

Whoa.

For ME?

Today was just a bundle of fun. My already existent grin widened as I put it on immediately – but taking it out of the box revealed a typed note inside.

.

**Sorry.**

.

Huh. Must have been from Roxas, since he's the one that broke my watch. That's really nice of him!

The watch fit my arm and wrist well, just the right size and weight for me… it seemed almost like it was all custom made. Happily I walked into our house.

"Hey, Sora! Check this out!"

The door shut quietly behind me.

* * *

WOW! That's a huge weight off my shoulders!

I hope this chapter was worth waiting that many months for. TT^TT Maybe no chapter can make up for that kind of irresponsibility...

At any rate, yeah, I added more thoughts of our mystery villain. Got any guesses as to who it is? And why did Yuna have arm-candy-Seifer, do you think? :O

Ah, but how silly of me. These questions are meant to be asked in...

THAT WEIRD NARRATION! ^-^

Oh, how I've missed this..

.

_WILL Dad be returning soon?_

_WILL the Struggle Tournament even occur?_

_WILL the mystery perv show himself?_

_WILL Xion be 'Recruited'?_

_WILL the reason for Seifer and Yuna's companionship be REVEALED?_

_AND most of all, WHERE is Riku and WHY can't he get out of the house?_

.

I can't thank you guys enough!

- Sono ^-^;


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